


Legion of a ghost child

by cisco_centric_4ever



Series: Revenge and Neglect [1]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Naruto
Genre: Child Neglect, Crossover, Implied Mpreg, M/M, Mpreg, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-01
Updated: 2018-01-11
Packaged: 2018-10-26 17:21:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 28
Words: 110,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10791210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cisco_centric_4ever/pseuds/cisco_centric_4ever
Summary: Naruto is neglected for his other siblings and he doesn't know why. he does everything he can to be good and stay out of trouble, but they still ignore him. One day naruto dies and frees the kyuubi after his parent leave him home without enough food to eat until they come back. Ironicly enough, he dies on his birthday and the nine tails beast his released, but it doesn't go on a rampage and destroys  the village. even though they deserve it. the nine tails sees what his family, naruto's, have done to him and decides to take him away from there. what will happen then, will kyuubi save naruto? will his family notice him before it's too late?





	1. Forgotten son

More often than not, when a person thinks of family, they think of a mom, a dad, maybe a few brothers and sisters sitting around the dinner table, smiling and laughing. You would think of love and happiness when you think of a perfect family. However, when Naruto looked at his family, he didn't know what to think. He had read in a book, a few book actually, that a family was supposed to look one another, parents are supposed to look out for their kids. Yet he wondered,  _"why? Why do they not love me like the others? Is there something wrong with me?"_ Naruto thought these thoughts as he watched his family train his siblings without him. He was the youngest out of five children, he had two older brothers by the name of Minato Jr. (M.J. for short), and Ryu. He had and older sister by the name of Shio, and a twin sister by the name of Narumi.

 

M.J. was the spitting image of Minato, long, spiky blond hair, but he had green eyes like his mother.

Ryu had long, spiky red hair, and blue eyes like his father.

Shio looked just like her mother but with long blond hair and blue eyes.

Narumi, just like Ryu, her hair was red and spiky, she too had green eyes.

 

Naruto, on the other had, was like a black sheep, his hair was blond and but not spiky, in fact it was curly which made his parents wonder who else in the family had curly hair. Also, his eyes wasn't just on color, it was two, meaning he had both his parent's eye color which caused Kushina to freak out upon seeing it the first time around, it creeped her out whenever she looked at him. This led her to not look at Naruto very often because of his eyes. Not only that, but he had whisker on his cheeks, along with his twin sister Narumi. This was because when Naruto and Narumi was born, the Kyuubi attacked the village and Minato had sealed both halfs of the night tail's chakra into the new born twins. 

 

Minato had sealed yin chakra, the lighter of the two halves, into Narumi, while he sealed the yang chakra, the darker half, into Naruto. Of course being the type of guy he was, he told the whole village of what he did. Now as the villagers saw it, Narumi had the yin chakra inside of her, yin was normally thought of as good, beauty and everything right with the world, so they thought of her as 'Knonha's Hero' or 'Savior of the village'. They praised her for it and looked up to her as if she was a princess ment to be queen of the village some day. As for Naruto, he was yang, the dark part of the world that no one wanted to see, evil, they asked for his death so after the sealing. However, Minato wasn't having it and denied them the death of one his children. Ever since that day, the villagers tried to hide how much they hated Naruto's guts whenever the hokage was around.

 

Now back to the present, Naruto and Narumi are four, their birthday being only a few months away. Naruto was up in his room he's been up there waiting for nearly seven hours, why? Because his father told him that he would call the boy down to start training with his sister as soon as he got back from the office. Naruto was waiting passionately for his father to come get him, he was so happy that his father was finally paying attention to him, so he waited. He waited for another four hours until the sun started to go down, he was starting to get worried that his father wasn't going to come get him, but he shook that thought away and waited some more. He had fallen asleep during his wait, when he woke up, it was already midnight, he panicked and went down stairs. He walked into the kitchen to see everything put away, the dishes washed and the table cleared. He could smell a faint trace of ramen in the air, it wasn't really his all time favorite, but he still liked it alot, and they had had it for dinner, without him. Saddened by, he went to make himself a sandwich before going back to his room to eat it, when he made it back to his room a thought hit him,  _"he was probably too busy to teach us today, he'll do it tomorrow of sure",_ he thought happily as he ate his sandwich. He fell asleep with hope.

 

The next morning, Naruto got up and got ready for his dad to start training him and his twin sister, he waited and waited, then waited some more. By dinner time, Naruto was tired of waiting and went down to get something to eat, when he made it to the kitchen, he his family had already finished eating. He was about to ask what was for dinner when his older brother Ryu and M.J. came in with good news, everyone gathered around them to hear.

 

"Mom, dad, I'm am now a Jonin of the leaf!" yelled his brother M.J., everyone cheered.

 

"Oh yeah, well I've just passed my Anbu test," saod Ryu, everyone cheered again. Even though they had just finished dinner, Minato announced that they would be going out to celebrate, everyone quickly cheered and went to go get ready.

 

Naruto was so happy that his brothers were doing so well, he went upstairs to his room to change his clothes, by the time he came back down the house was quite. He thought that everyone was still getting ready so he waited on the couch for them to come back. After two hours of waiting, he fell asleep. When he woke up again, he was back in his room and it was day time. His heart sank a little when he realized what that meant, but then he cheered up as he remembered the promise his dad made to train him and his sister,  _"today's the day!"_ He thought as he bounded down the stairs, the house was quite as he sat down on the couch waiting for his father to walk through the door to start his training to become a ninja. He waited in the same spot for hours, he kept waiting and waiting until night fell, he still waited, even well into the night as he fought to stay away. He didn't want to miss his chance again. 

 

He was getting really tired, but he didn't want to fall asleep, so he got up and started stretching for a while, the same ones he saw his older brothers and sister do all the time when they were training. When he was done, he sat back on the couch to wait a few more hours. He was starting to get tired again, plus the sun had already gone down a few hours before, the smile he had faded a bit as he slipped off the couch and went back up to his room. He looked at his bed longingly before falling into it. He was to tired to do anything else, his stomach growled but he was to tired.

 

The next day he woke up to a bit of a commotion, down stairs, he got up and went to see what it was, he saw his brothers, sister, and mother running around grabbing ninja tools. "What's going on!?" He asked, his voice just loud enough to catch the attention of his mother, she came up to him but didn't look him in the eye for a moment.

 

"Alright sweety, it's okay, everything's fine okay? We've just got something to do for a little while so that means we'll be a way for a little while, but we'll come back as soon as we're down, understood?" Kushina said to him in a calm but urgent voice, Naruto nodded, "good, now we'll be done for a few days, two days at the most, I'll sent a clone to check on you tomorrow with some food, but we'll be right back so after, alright?"

 

Naruto could sense the urgency in his mothers voice as he nodded his head and watched them leave out the door, he looked around the house for his twin, Narumi but couldn't find her. He was starting to worry about her but then saw the note on the frig that said she would be at a friend's house, so he went back up to his room to play in the library. Reading was the most fun thing to Naruto, he could get lost in a boo for hours and hours, once he was found reading a stack of books for a whole day without stopping. He had already read all of the book for his age group and was already on a higher reading level than his twin, who hated reading. He picked up a few books and scrolls about chakra control, a few jutsus that his family was known for, and sealing, he read until it got dark out so he took a brake to turn on the lights in the library and make himself a few sandwiches to eat. When he got back up to the library, he had enough food and snakes in his arm to last him a good week, he set them down when back to reading, unlike most kids his age, Naruto couldn't get enough of books. He read and read, but not only did he read, he memorized everything he read as well, he had a photographic memory so he remembered everything that he both saw and heard, and once he read a subject he liked, he would drink it in like a fish in water.

 

Because Naruto had spent most of his time reading since he was one, his sister Shio had called his 'Prince Bookworm'when he was three, Naruto didn't get that she was making fun of him. He had read a book about worms and he didn't find that he looked like a worm at all, however, she also called him a prince which made him very happy, he liked the thought of being a prince. His brothers had been listening and told Narumi, they all laughed at him and called him Prince Wormington from the Kingdom of Bookiutopia, this brought Naruto grate joy, not only did he think that his family thought he was royalty, but there was also a kingdom of books out there somewhere. It took a whole week for his parents to ask why he was calling himself Prince Wormington, when he told them it was only the second time that Kushina had looked her son in the eye. There was so much joy in them that shouldn't bring herself to take that away from him, Naruto then spent the rest of the month looking for the Kingdom of Bookiutopia. The day before his fourth birthday, Shio, M.J. and Ryu set up a fake bookstore with the dame of the fake kingdom they made up, when  the found out about the store he was over the moon. He ran to the store and stayed there all day, his brothers and sister watched him and laughed for a good hour about how they tricked their baby brother.

 

However, after they had their laugh, they left Naruto at the fake bookstore. They thought that he would only stay for an hour or so after they left so they didn't bother worrying about him at all, however, after they left Naruto stayed the whole in the store. The store was actually just a large box with a genjutsu on it, one of the villagers had seen Naruto playing in the box and went to gather some of his friends so they could finally get their revenge, soon a mob of fifty or so people surrounded the unsuspecting boy. Naruto was ripped out of the genjutsu as soon as the villagers that gathered took turns beating him within an inch of his life. By the Naruto had gotten home, it was well past midnight and everyone was asleep, no one came to find him, no one checked so see if he was in his room, no they just went to sleep. The next they they left for the Kyuubi festival while Naruto was asleep in his bed, Kyuubi had already healed the more life threatening wounds, he just needed to work on the minor ones. After that day, Naruto never believed anything his siblings said.

 

Now, although he wanted to believe that his parents truly was telling him the true, that they would come back in two days, he got the distinctive feeling that they wouldn't be back so soon.

* * *

 

 

It has been almost a week since his parents told him that they would be back, his mom didn't send a clone to check on him like she promise. Luckily he had enough food to stashed away for just type of thing, he didn't think that he would need to use his stash, but it was becoming more and more clear to him that he was going to need to do do. There was just enough food in the house to feed just him for a while longer before his parents were to come back. He hoped that his parents would come back soon, until then, he decided to start his own training until his family came back, he started with chakra control first, he didn't have a tree to use, so he used the walls.

 

Another week as gone by and his family still hasn't come back for him,  _"what could be taking them so long?"_ he wondered to himself as he stared out the window at the end of the second week. by now he had already mastered walking on walls since he couldn't go outside, his father's security seals made sure of that. He used the bathtub in his parent's bathroom to do the water walking exercise, he mastered it about a day ago, so he was back to waiting.

 

Another week has gone by, making it three weeks all together since his parents left him at home. The food in the kitchen was no dangerously low. Since he had a photographic memory, he remembered seeing were everything was placed, he had pretty much polished off the last of the jutsu scrolls in the family library by now. He was getting board of waiting and decided to see what he could find in his father's study to read, he came across a bunch of copied files on the clans in the village, he also found a large scroll with the kanji for 'Forbidden' on it. He didn't want to get into trouble if he could help it, so he started with the files first.

 

It's been four weeks and three days now, the month was almost over, his family had not come back home yet. He was at a loss of with what to do with himself, he didn't want to read the scroll, it could get him into trouble! But then again, his father wouldn't know, right? With that thought, Naruto went up to his father's study and read the forbidden scroll.

 

The kitchen was empty now, he only had his stash of food left, he fashioned it off so it would last longer. He checked the calendar, on his wall, he was surprised but also unhappy that a month and a half as gone by without any sign of his family, he had read the forbidden scroll all the way through now. It made no sense to Naruto as to why his family had to go off and leave him home for so long, surely being the 'Yellow Flash' and the 'Red Death of Knonha' meant that they wouldn't take so long to take care of something. Big or small, it shouldn't have taken so long, someone had to come home to look after him at some point right?

 

It was now a full two months his so called family left him behind, he has nothing left to read, his food supply was almost non-existent, but he couldn't just go outside to get something a store or the market. The doors were still sealed shut, the windows no better, and it was getting old outside. Without anyone to work the heater, Naruto was starting to feel the chill coming through the walls. Wearing extra layers of clothes helped some, but it didn't seem like the temperature would rise anytime soon, in side and out. He kept looking outside to see if his family was on their way to the house yet, he didn't see anything. By now he had started practicing fire jutsus to keep himself worm, he practiced other jutsus too just to keep himself busy.

 

One morning Naruto woke up to the sight of frost forming INSIDE the house. He ran to the closest window only to see a snow storm in full swing, by the way the storm was going outside, it no doubt had covered the whole house in snow by now. Naruto then quickly ran all over the house calling out to his family until he was too tired to move, he woke up and repeated the action over and over and over again for the next two weeks. He did everything to get get out of the house when he still couldn't find a soul, other than himself, in the whole house, it scared him. He scratched at the doors, threw heavy things at the windows to brake it, he grabbed knifes to try and stab a hole in the door, he even repeatedly threw himself at the doors and windows. He did this for hours on end for an unknown amount of time until he finally fell un-contuse, when he woke up, it was night and he heard the fireworks in the distance. He knew that sound better than anything, sure the village did do fireworks every once in a while, but these fireworks were different, they had something added to them to make them brighter, flashier, something that made these fireworks stand out from all the rest. He knew now that he was a fool to trust his parents, he felt like a whole for believing anyone when they told him anything. During his time locked away in the house, no one came to check on him, no one asked for him, no one seemed to give a damn about him at all, it broke his heart as he realized something else. He didn't want to believe it to be true, but it just had to be now, using the last of his strength, Naruto picked himself up and walked over to the bookshelf in the family room, he took out the family able out drug himself up the stairs to his room. He locked the to his room and sat on his bed, he wrapped himself in the collection of sheets and blankets he had on his bed before looking at the photo album for his family. The first page had a picture of all of them together, the picture was taken when him and Narumi was just born, Narumi was in his father's arms, he was in his mother's arms, while M.J. and Ryu was standing on either side of their mom, and Shio was next to their dad. That was the only picture he could find with him in it, the only picture in the whole house.

* * *

 

 

Minato Namikaze was a man that felt on top of the world right now, it took him a few months, but he finally did it. When the Kyuubi attacked the village, he took down the beast by sealing it into his new born twins, a sacrifice he had to make, he could,'t very well make anyone else give up their own child, and it wouldn't work on anyone but a baby, someone who's chakra pathways hadn't set in yet. He had to do, it was for the good of the village for God's sake! So he had to do it, he sealed Kyuubi into both of his twins after separating it, then he told the village of his heroics and that his children should be hero's for what they hold. Then about four years later, the mask man that came with the Kyuubi attack came back, he was training his daughter how to control the Kyuubi's chakra when it happened. He just showed up out of no where and took Narumi, he just took his baby girl! Minato was normally know as a kind and patient man, but no one that has messed with his family ever comes out unharmed after. Needless to say, Minato formed a team to get his baby girl back, nothing else mattered to him then. 

 

The team was made up of , Kushina, Minato Jr., Ryu, Shio, Kakashi, Mito Gui, Asuma, and Kurani, with Minato in the lead. They left to go after the masked man and find his Narumi. The hunt for the man took a while, but they finally found him in an underground bass outside of fire country. They fought with the man, all of them at once, the man got away once with Narumi in tow but that didn't stop the group from chasing him to the ends of the earth to save Minato's daughter. They found him again and this time when they fought, they killed the masked man thanks to the help of Jiraya coming to their aid at the last minute. They got Narumi to the closest hospital after that, they all spent about a week their to recover from the fight they had with the masked man, they found out that the man was Obito Uchiha, thought to have died in the third grate shinobi war. Kakashi never liked Obito, said he was too soft, now he didn't know what to think of the man who used to be his teammate. After the week was over, everyone, except the Namikaze-Uzumaki's and Jiraya, left to head back to the village. Mnato and his family talked it over and decided that Narumi should do sage training to protect herself better when neither parent was available.

 

Minato had taught Narumi the shadow clone jutsu so that while doing sage training, it would go twice as fast, after teaching her that, the family went with her to Mt. Mioboku to watch over her as she trained. With the shadow clone jutsu, Narumi finished her sage training in a month and a half, her parents were so proud. After that, the Uzumaki and Namikaze's was reversed summoned back to the gates of Knonoha after being away for nearly five months straight. They happily made it back to the their family home only to find out that it had a huge hole in the roof and most of the side of the house had been destroyed. They panicked, wondering what could have done this,  Minato grabbed a villager that was walking by and asked what happened.

 

"I'm not really sure, Lord Hokage, I wasn't close to the house when it happened but by the time that anyone noticed, it looked like this," said the villager.

 

"Did anyone see what happened?" Asked Minato.

 

The villager shook his head, "no sir, we were all at the festival at the time."

 

"Did anyone get hurt?" Kushina asked this time.

 

The villager shook his head, "not from this, no... but"

 

"Wait, festival, which one do you mean?" Ryu asked

 

"Oh, well the Kyuubi festival of course, Lord Ryu, everyone was there."

 

"Kyuubi? Wait, that's my birthday festival!" Narumi all but yelled, "I missed my birthday!" she started to cry.

 

Kushina and Shio comforted her, "now, now, sweetheart, don't cry, we can still celebrate your birthday," said her mom as she rubbed her back.

 

Just then Minato finally noticed something, he turned to his family and counted each head, five in all, "someone's missing," he said.

 

M.J. looked at his father, "who?" 

 

Ryo slapped his frother in the back of his head, "hay dummy, isn't obvious? It Prince Wormington!"

 

"Wh- wait, oh yeah! The Prince! How could I forget?" M.J. said with a fax grin, "so...? Where is the little guy?"

 

Shio got up from the ground and slapped her brother upside the head, "we don't know, duh, are you sure you're dad's son?"

 

"I look like his don't I?" M.J. asked angrily at his younger sister.

 

"Whatever," Shio turned to her dad, "do you know where he is dad?"

 

Minato shook his head as some of the color drained from his face, "no, I haven't seen him since we went off to find Narumi."

 

Shio then remembered seeing her mom talk to him before they left, "have you seen h- mom are you okay?" She asked as she turned back to see her mom staring at the house, all the color had left her face, she looked like she'd seen a ghost, "mom?" Shio tried again watching as her mom slowly got up from the ground as she continued to look at the destroyed house, "mom, c'mon, you're scaring me, what's wrong with you?!"

 

Kushina took a step forward, her eyes filling with water, "he was there."

 

"What?" Shio asked, "who was, mom, you're not making sense."

 

"Naruto, he was there," Kushina turned to her family with the tears falling down her face now. "he was there, he was in there, INSIDE THE HOUSE AND I JUST LEFT HIM THERE WHILE WE FORGOT ABOUT HIM!!!! He was in there and just FORGOT ALL ABOUT HIM! HOW COULD... how could we.... do that.... how could we-no, hOW COULD I DO THAT TO MY BABY BOY?! HE WAS IN THERE AND WE JUST.... JUST....we just left him," she was now crying hysterically as her husband and children tried and failed to calm her down.

 

"Don't worry, Kushina, we'll find, him, if he's still in there we'll find him," Minato said.

 

Kushina pushed him away, "HOW?!" She screamed, "HOW COULD WE! How can we ever hope to find him in that...that.. that MESS!?!"

 

Minato looked from Kushina to the mess of wood and bricks that used to be their home, he looked to Kushina again, he grabbed her shoulders, determination in his eyes, "we well. just trust me." He stepped away from his wife and looked to his children, "together, we'll do it together, as a family, we will find him." His kids nodded and went over to the house to look through the rubble to find their missing family member, not knowing that he wasn't there anymore.


	2. He, the who died

It's been about three months since Naruto had finished reading all the books in the whole house, even his sibling's personal diary/journals. It has been about two months since he last tried to escape from his  _family's_ house. A month and a half since he ran out of food, he fell unconscious because of the lack of food, energy, and body heat. Now, all together, roughly six months had passed since he last saw his family, he had been out could for about a week and two days in the freezing house, not a soul stopping by the house to see what was happening. No, they were already at the week long Kyuubi celebration, Naruto heard the fireworks and some of the cheering from his room it was so loud, before he passed out. A whole week and two, going on three, days before Kyuubi finally managed to take control of the young boy's body so he could turn into his nine tailed form, which destroyed the roof and the side of the house. If it wasn't for the foxes chakra, Naruto wouldn't have- 

 

 _ **"wait..."**_ Kyuubi thought as he looked around the destroyed house,  _ **"where's my container?"**_ The fox looked around the rubble for the little blond boy before finding him just outside the back of the house, he looked down at the boy's un-moving body. It was partly covered in snow, carefully, Kyuubi picked the boy up and held him in his hands, bringing him close to his face so he could get a better look. 

 

Naruto's body was like touching ice, his skin was a light gray, his blond hair, losing it's shine, almost looked white, and his eyes were closed. Kyuubi was about to panic when he felt it, _**"it was faint, very weak, barely even there but it was. It was a heartbeat. He still had a chance, the boy still had a chance, but I 'll need to hurry."**_ He acted quickly as he held Naruto in one hand and took off at a speed that could rival the Yellow Flash, he ran far and fast while surrounding Naruto's cold body with warm chakra. He had no idea if this would work or not, but he was going to try it anyways because it was the only thing that he could for now. It took him whole days to get to where he was going, by then Naruto's body had managed to stay alive until then, Kyuubi wasn't a doctor, but he knew a little something, after all, he had lived for a long time.

 

__

* * *

 

Naruto woke up about a month later, he looked around to find that he was in a room, with only a large bed and a few shelves in it, other than that, the room was bare. He tried to sit up but felt a light weight all over him, _"what's this?"_ He asked himself as he felt something furry fall into his hands, _"it_ _'s so soft and warm...."_ He began to drift off again.

 

When Naruto woke up the second time, he wasn't alone, there was a man standing by the bed with pouring some tea. He had fiery red hair, smooth skin, and ...fox ears on his head?  _"They look so soft"_ Thought the blond four year old, he slowly sat up, his two colored eyes captivated by the man's ears, he reached out a hand to touch the ears when he heard a voice.

 

"I see you're awake now," said the man in a deep voice, he turned crimson red eyes to look at the blond child.

 

Naruto froze, he looked at the man for a moment, the man looked back at him, Naruto blinked before his hand started moving closer to the man's ears again. The man gentle caught the had before it reached his ears, "please don't do that," he said.

 

Naruto looked at the man, they stared at each other for a minute before Naruto tried to move his hand closer again, his eyes never leaving the ears. The ears twitched as the man was becoming annoyed with the boy, "I said don't," he said with forced calm in his voice.

 

"But they look so soft and I may never get the chance to touch them again," Naruto said sounding smarter than any four year old should sound, while still keeping his child-like voice full of awe.The man wanted to argue with the child's logic, but after what the boy went through, he gave up and let the boy touch his ears. His hands still could from the half dead state he was in, but not as could as before.

 

Naruto moved closer to the fox-like man as he rubbed the furry ears between hiss little fingers, he had never felt anything like it before, they were soft but firm, the redest red he's ever seen, and they were real. Where they? "Are these real?" Naruto asked as he looked into the red eyes of the man, the eyes soon stole all the attention away from the soft ears.

 

"Yes they are," said the man, he sighed as he placed the boy back into his bed and tucked him in under the sheets. He then picked up the tea cup that he had filled half way and presented it to the boy, "drink," he said, Naruto obeyed and drunk the tea. The man poured him another cup which he drank, and other until the man nodded, "Good, now rest, I'll bring you some more tea in a few hours.

 

Naruto was starting to feel sleepy again, he guessed it was because of the tea he drank, he also felt warmth spread all over his body. He smiled as he went back to sleep.

* * *

 

 

When Naruto woke up again, it was dark in the room but there was a orange light coming from behind a curtain that reminded him of the sunrise. He guessed that it was still early morning, the warm feeling from before was still there like it never left, he thought it would have but there was a taste of the tea he had before falling back to sleep in his mouth. He had a feeling that the man from before also came back when he was sleeping. He heard the door to the room open and tiredly sat up so see who it was, he rubbed his eyes to get rid of the sleep in his eyes before looking at the slightly open door, there was no to be seen standing there, he looked around the room to see if anyone was there. He didn't see anyone, adult or otherwise, he was about to get out of bed when he felt something hop onto his lap, he looked down to find a small fox sitting there staring up at him. 

 

"Oh, hello, what are you doing here?" Naruto asked with a small smile, the fox tilted it's head to the side as it continued stare at the boy, he chuckled and pet the fox's head. "Are you lost?" He got no answer, not like expected one in the first place, he chuckled again, "don't worry, I'll wait with you, you must have someone to take care of you right?"

 

"Actually he doesn't," came a familiar voice from the door, the man from before was standing there with a tray tea.

 

"It's you... what do you..." Naruto watched the man walk over to his side of the large bed.

 

"This little kit doesn't have anybody to look after him, his mom died after he was born, his father died in the war and..." the man sat down with a heavy sigh, he set the tray down and placed a hand on the fox's head, "his siblings died from illness not too long after the war started. He's the only one left in his family, an orphan," he cleared his thought and took his hand away, much to the disappointment of the little fox, "he's been staying here with me until I could find someone to take care of him full time."

 

"Can't you do it?" Naruto asked, "I mean, you've been taking care of him all this time so far, why-"

 

"Because I haven't been here to fully take the responsibility that comes with taking care of this kit," the man interrupted the boy sharply. He started pouring the tea now, "I'm actually a very busy guy, now that I'm back home, I try but..." he shook his head, "I just don't have enough time to give." He finished pouring and handed the tea to Naruto to drink, which he did, "he need's someone that'll take care of him, someone who has the time him," the boy nodded, "Naruto that's not me, I have to much to do and I barely have the time to do it."

 

Naruto finished his tea and handed the cup back to the man, "how'd you know my name?"

 

"Hm?" 

 

"My name, you said Naruto, how'd you know that's who I was? Do I know you from somewhere?" Naruto asked as the little fox looked between them, he pawed over to Naruto, putting his head under one of the boy's hands, getting the hint Naruto petted the little fox again as he looked at the man in front of him. He didn't know where he'd seen the man before, now that he was fully awake watching how he poured another cup of tea, he couldn't help the feeling of knowing him, "what"s you're name?"

 

The man finished pouring the tea and watched Naruto for a minute, "Karuma, that's what I've been call for as long as I can remember," he handed Naruto the cup.

 

"Karuma? That's a nice name," Naruto to a sip of his tea as he looked around, "where is this place?"

 

"Well it's my home, though, I haven't been here in a very long time," said Karuma.

 

"Really? Why's that?" 

 

Karuma took a while to answer, he had an apprehensive look on his face, "I'm not sure if you'll understand this, but I'm he nine tails." 

 

Naruto looked the man up and down for a moment as he finished his tea, when he was down, he handed the cup back to Karuma, who held the cup in his hands as he waited of the boy's answer. "You don't look like a giant fox with nine tails that could destroy a village if he wanted to," Naruto said in a calm voice.

 

Karuma blinked twice before he slowly poured the last cop of tea, he handed it to the boy when he was done, "um... well I am, or I'm half of him anyways."

 

"Where's your other half?" Naruto asked thinking he had a twin like him, "is he away on business or something?"

 

"No, he's.... inside your sister," Karuma answered still looking at the blond with confusion on his face.

 

Naruto almost spit out his tea, why? Because his parents, even though they told their children about the Kyuubi attack and it's sealing, they never told Naruto and Narumi that they were the ones who held the two halves of the Kyuubi. It didn't help that when they finally did tell the twins, it was on their second birthday, after they ran around all day playing and opening their gifts which made they half asleep when Minato and Kuchina told them. It also didn't help that they told them in a way that would sound like a bedtime story. Narumi, fell asleep half way though the story, while Naruto, with his grate memory, still remembered.

 

"You're the Kyuubi from the story!?" Naruto asked, not in fear, but excitement because he loved foxes, don't get him wrong, he didn't think that what happened to the village was something to laugh at. However, he always wanted to meet a giant fox, now he has. "Oh man, this is grat-" he just realized something, suddenly all of his memories came back to him. His father's promise to train him but never showing up, his family leaving him forgetting him at home while they went out partying to congratulate his brother's jonin and anbu ranking, and finally his mother leaving him home to do something, practically running out the door to do it. The last thing he could remember was looking at his family picture, the only one that he could ever find himself in, and hearing the people cheer for the fireworks as they went off in the distance before falling un-contuse. He remembered it all, every second of being alone and hungry, everything, his smile faded away and the now empty tea cup fell from his limp hands.

 

"I-w-wha-I can-ju-wHY!" Tears built up in his eyes before sliding down his face like a waterfall, "what-what happened to me?" He cried as Karuma hurriedly came closer to him and wrapped him in a warm hug, it was the only thing that came to mind for him to do, "why did they...why wold they...just left me!" He managed to say through the sobs, but Karuma understood what he was trying to say as he hushed the boy in his arms, the little fox whimpered as he saw the one petting him crying and he didn't know what to do but lean on him.

 

The fox looked up to the boy with sad eyes, he didn't like seeing the boy so sad, he was the first person there to give him this much attention. He only knew of one other thing to do, as he backed away from the boy, his red fur started glowing a bright red as he lifted his tail up. Taking a step forward, he let his tail touch the boy's forehead and he closed his eyes in deep thought, soon the little fox's fur started turn a deep orange before getting lighter until it was a bright golden yellow. When he was done, he pulled his tail away from the boy's forehead and opened his eyes to see the boy's blue and green eyes staring back at him, the tears were still flowing but he wasn't crying anymore. The fox gave him a fox grin before curling up into the boy's lap, whatever he just did made him tired, he didn't know what it was but it took a lot of his energy so he needed sleep now.

 

Naruto looked at the now golden-yellow fox laying asleep in his lap, all his sad feelings were nearly gone, it shocked him really. He heard a deep sigh come from his right, he turned to see Karuma looking down at the little fox laying in Naruto's lap, "looks like I just found someone to take care of him now," he said as he started to get up to leave. 

 

He was stopped by Naruto holding his arm, "what just happened? I was sad, really really sad, but now I'm not. What did he do to me? What-what was that just now?" He asked rapidly. 

 

Karuma hummed, "bonding." 

 

"Bonding?" Naruto repeated.

 

Karuma nodded, "yes, it's something that my clan does, but only when we make a contract between a summoner and ourselves." He sighed through his nose,"we always advise our kits not to do it at such a young age because they will end up bonding more to the human than need be, which was what just happened."

 

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

 

"Well, during a normal bonding between a human summoner and our clan, it makes it so that the human is seen as more of family or likely another brother or sister. But since he did it so young, he's become more like... your son." Karuma explained.

 

Naruto chewed on this information for a few moments, "so basically I just became the world's youngest father?" Karuma nodded, Naruto took in a deep breath and looked down at the little fox before gathering him up into his arms, he nodded once, "I'll do my best." He then laid back down on the bed, turning away from Karuma with the little fox in his arms, "do you mind if he stays with me while I sleep?"

 

Karuma shook his head, "no, I'm sure you two will both need your rest right now," he said as he gathered up the tea set then headed to the door, "I'll call you both down for food when it's done," he then closed the door behind him.

 

Naruto heard the door close before some more tears fell down his face, he went back to sleep shortly after.

 

 


	3. fAMILY?! I'm not sure I know the meaning...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the wait, long chapter ahead

The next time Naruto woke up, he found that he was still in the room he had been in every other time he woke up. The room was still very bare, the shelves were empty and the whole gave him the feeling that it was made a very very very long time ago, the main reason he felt this way was because of the bed. The bed was very large actually, maybe large larger than a queen and a king sized bed put together, or was that just just imagination? He sat up straight on the bed to look around, the bed was low to the ground with zero space under the bed. The sheets that covered him were a sea of red and shining velvet, their were two layers of soft covers under the red sheet that served to warm Naruto to the point that he felt a little hot after being fulling covered for so long. The two sheets that warmed his body were also ultra sort, it was like being hugged in love and happiness, if that's even possible. 

 

Naruto felt something shift on his left side, he looked to see a small baby fox laying next to him with golden fur. Looking at the fox by his side, he remembered what happened before falling asleep. The sadness he felt, the betrayal, it all hit him like a ton of bricks and lone tear rolled down his cheek, but then he remembered what the little fox did to him and for him. He also remembered Kurama's words, the explanation he gave, Naruto pulled the little fox into his lap gently without waking him.  _"Looks like you're my only family now,"_ thought Naruto as he pet the golden fox. 

 

Just then the door to the room opened and Kurama walked in, now that he was really looking around the room, he noticed how big it was. It reminded him of a room that a futile lord and his wive would sleep in. It was large, maybe as big as a small apartment or something, with the bed in the center of the room. "Naruto?" Kurama asked once he saw how the blond on the bed was looking around the room.

 

"Kurama, who's room is this?" Naruto asked looking at the human kyuubi.

 

Kurama smiled as he took a seat in his usual spot in front of the blond, this time without the tea set, "it's my room."

 

"Why am I in your room? Don't you need it to sleep in?" Asked the blond.

 

"Yeas, but unlike you humans, I don't need to sleep that often. I also don't have the time to seep regular hours, the most sleep I could hope to get here would be a few hours at most out of the month," said the fox man.

 

This surprised Naruto a bit, "so, what do you do that stops you from sleeping in your bed?"

 

Kurama thought for a moment, "hmm, you can think of it as me being a Hokage or a clan head... but with less paperwork and more.... um." He thought for a moment more, he didn't know how to explain his role for right now, especially since the person he's explaining it to was an innocent four year old boy, he looked at the blond in front of him for a moment. After a long silence, mostly because he was arguing with himself inside his own head, he could see Naruto losing his petitions so he cleared his throat again, "uh tell you what, how about we just say I'm like the head of my clan and leave it at that, alright?"

 

Naruto raised his eyebrow at that but saw he wasn't going to get anymore info on the matter... for now anyways. Instead, he asked another question, "what happened to, back at the house, I can't remember anything after going to my room with the family album while the rest of the village was at the festival. How did I end up here in your room?"

 

Kurama had a sad look in his eye, it was plain as day, even Naruto saw it, then again he wasn't really hiding it to begin with. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, he really didn't want to talk about what happened, luckily for him, the little fox with his newly golden fur woke up then. The little yawned and stretched himself out on Naruto's lap, he rubbed his eyes a bit with his paws before opening his eyes and looking around the room, he first saw Kurama before he turned his sights on Naruto. Upon seeing the blond, he gave him a big fox grin and cuddled up to the boy happily. When Kurama saw the little fox's eyes, he didn't really expect it at first, but then he remembered the premature bonding that happened before and nodded with a knowing smile on his face, Naruto, not missing the smile, looked at the fox man with a questioning look in his eyes as he head the little fox. Naruto was shocked to see the eyes that the fox now had, when he first met the little fox his fur was a light red and his eyes were dark as night, but now the little fox's fur was golden and he had two different colored eyes, blue and green, just like him. He wanted to know why that was, he didn't even need to ask.

 

"This is why little kits of our clan are told to wait to do the bonding ritual, from the looks of it, this little kit has bonded with you more than I originally thought," stated Kurama.

 

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, the little golden fox was now also intrigued by this question, Kurama expected as much.

 

"Well when you bonded before, his fur turned just as blond as your hair, but not only did his fur turn gold, he also got a deeper connection with. Something that no human has ever achieved with our clan before. This connection goes deeper than just reading thoughts and being able to speak to each other, not just telepathically either, but may... just maybe, this kit will be able to now speak as you and I do." Kurama said with a small smile, Naruto was shocked, as well as the little fox. Not only had he been told that he could talk to blond boy in his head, but also talk as a human when he got older, this information brought a light into the fox's eyes at the prospects. While Naruto, too, was happy to be able to talk to his favorite animal but said animal would be able to understand him and talk back, this might- no this was- by far, the most greatest thing that he had ever gotten in his life.Naruto looked at the little fox, who looked back at him, both equally happy. 

 

"However," the boy and the fox looked back at Kurama, "now that I see that you both share the same eyes, I think it's time that I take you to sign the Fox contract, just to make it official. I know that there will be some in the clan who would be very happy to have a human summon them again, if not in battle, then for good company."

 

Naruto was nearly floored at this information, he was only four, but already he was getting to sign a summoning contract! This brought tears to his eyes and he started crying tears of pure joy since the time of the book store incident, Kurama placed a hand on both Naruto's and the little fox's head, who was also crying, "come on you two. I'll explain more about your bonding on the way there," the two nodded and got out of bed, Naruto fell when he tried to walk from all the time he had been in bed, it hurt a little to just stand. It felt more than pins and needles, the feeling as if your leg or arm was still asleep or falling asleep, no that wasn't it though, this was a different feeling, Naruto couldn't place his finger on it, but he knew the way his body felt so stiff would make it very hard to move for a while. Especially if it was on his own, his legs felt like it belonged to someone else entirely, but why? Kurama saw the look on the young boy's face, he knew that he had to tell the boy the truth, some how, and soon.. but not now, he wanted to get the bonding and summons over with before he had to talk about that. So, to save Naruto from the pain of stiff body parts, Kurama picked up Naruto who then picked up and held the little fox as they walked to the place where the contract was.

 

* * *

 

 

**Back in Knonha**

 

Minato and Kushina had been searching around the village for a couple of weeks now looking for their little lost son, they checked with some of the clan head. No luck. They checked the training grounds. Nothing. They checked the ramen stand. Not even a glimpse. Where could he be? it didn't make sense, where was Naruto? Where could he have gone? The couple was getting worried about their youngest brother, even Shio, though she was not the one who teased him the most, she still did it and she felt a little bad about it now so she helped look for Naruto the most out of all her siblings. After coming home to find the house destroyed, the whole family was worried about the little curly haired boy, it showed to. However, they (and by they, I mean Kushina) was forced to drop the search, why? Because they had something slightly bigger to worry about now.

 

It had been a few week since the house was destroyed, it took a few days to rebuild the Namikaze house thanks to some of the shinobi in the village lending a hand, now it was twice as big as it was before. The reason for that was because they needed more space, it became known that after a few weeks of searching without food and rest, Kushina collapsed. She was brought to the hospital where Tsunade took a look and found out that the Red Death of Konoha was having triplets. TRIPLETS!! Minato was both happy and worried for his wife at the same time, even though he  _was_ happy that their family was growing to the size of an actual small clan, he was worried that Kushina wouldn't make it through to the birthing of their new additions. It's not like she had any problem giving birth to the five kids they had had, no, in fact the Uzumaki clan was also known for getting pregnant quickly and sometimes a bit too easily for some, and those some where the head family of Uzu. Along with their long lives and mastery of seals, they also got pregnant whenever they wanted, which was one of the reasons why the five nations both feared and respected them so much til the end. There was once Kumo wanted to some of the Uzumaki clan to come over to their side, given a few years they would have a army of red head tomatoes at their command, but the Uzukage said no.

 

Now that you know about that, time to tell you why Minato was so worried about his tomato of a wife.

 

_Flashback_

_It happened about the day before Naruto and Narumi's second birthday. Kushina was in the kitchen making breakfast, Minato was on the couch not too far away reading his Icha Icha pron: yaoi edition because he was a perv like that, plus he was bisexual (but he hadn't told his wife yet because e feared her reaction, plus she was a VERY BIG yaoi fan to the point it was almost scary). He was having one of his oh so rare days off, his oldest son was already taking missions, his second son was graduating from the academy next year, his oldest daughter teaching her little sister and brother how to read. Everyone was happy and getting along swimmingly, not to mention the Icha Icha book he was reading was his sensei's, Jiraya, new book, what more could he ask for? He was just getting to the part were the male characters were about to have a steamy threesome, when he heard Kushina yelp in pain in the kitchen._

 

_Quickly hiding his beloved porn in a place that only he could open with his chakra and taking out the regular Icha Icha too leave were the kids can't get, but it won't give his wife any fangirlly ideas about him, then he ruched into the kitchen via yellow flash, all under ten seconds. He's practiced this type of thing relentlessly since it was the only way that Kushina would let him keep his books. When he got to the kitchen he saw his beloved wife on the floor, in pain, clutching her abdomen. Shio and the twins rushed into the kitchen shortly after Minato asking what was wrong with mommy while Minato's hands glowed green as he scanned her for injury._

 

_"Daddy, what's going on, is mommy okay?" Asked Narumi to her father, her childish vocabulary butchering every word of the Japanese language._

 

_Minato gathered Kushina into his arms and lifted her up, "don't worry, Narumi, mommy'll be just fine because we're going to the hospital to see granny Tsunade. Your granny's gonna make mommy feel all better soon, okay?" He said as he walked over to the door, his children fallowing closely behind, "Shio, could you get the door for me please? Thanks," they quickly made their way outside the house to stand over a seal that Minato had placed their, "everyone get on the seal and hold onto me," he said to his kids who did just that, when they were all holding onto their father, they all disappeared and reappeared inside of Tsunade's office. She was about to protested about the way they entered her office (because it scared the shit out of her and almost wet herself because of it) but took one look at Kushina and let it slide... this time. She called for assistant, Shizuna, who came so they could take The Red Death into an operating room, two hours later they came back out._

 

_"What happened? Is my wife going to be alright?" Asked Minato to Tsunade._

 

_"Don't worry, Minato, Kushina will be fine." Tsunade said which eared a sigh of relief from the other blond._

 

_"Thank Kami... but what was wrong with her?" He asked, he regretted when he saw the sad look on the grate medic's face._

 

_"Well, even though she's an Uzumaki, she had a miscarriage and-" Tsunade began but was interrupted._

 

_"WHAT?! But Uzumaki's never have miscarriages!" Stated the hokage in shock._

 

_"If you would let me talk, you'll know more," she said with forced calm, Minato apologized, "like I was saying, she lost the baby, I don't know why, but I do know that she'll survive. The other thing is that, after I had to remove the child to save her life, I made note of the state of her womb. It's nothing serious, she'll be able to conceive again if she wants, but from what I found, it maybe a rough right."_

 

_"What do you mean?" Minato wondered worriedly._

 

_"Hmm," Tsunade put a hand on her chin in a thinking pose, "by my best guess, if you two were to conceive again, Kushina would have to be watched very carefully. That means no stress, no heavy training though a little exercise is fine, and definitely no missions for a while, that means before and after." She sighed, "she'll most likely be out of commotion for up to a year at the least."_

 

_Minato looked now in thought, he wasn't sure of how to feel, they had always talked about having a big family, Kushina more than him. Still if he were to tell her, it would probably crush her to know that she may never have kids again, or that having another would be very risky. He didn't like seeing his tomato sad, it broke his heart, although she would most likely brake his leg or something if he ever called her tomato out loud, it was another one of his secret pleasures, next to his Icha Icha of cause. He realized were his mind was going when he thought about his beloved porn and shook himself of those thoughts, he looked back to Tsanude, "may we see her?"_

 

_Tsunade nodded, "yes, but she's sleeping right now, she needs her rest."_

 

_"Yes, of course," Minato said starting to walk over to his wife's room until he stopped to look back at the busty medic._

 

_"Don't worry, I'll watch your children" Tsunade said, Minato nodded his thanks and started to walk again but stopped and turned back, "room 321."_

 

_Minato gave her a sheepish smile, "thanks," then he started heading in the right direction._

 

_Flashback end_

 

 Now Kushina is pregnant again and this time it's triplets,  _triplets_ , Minato couldn't believe his luck, three at once. When he heard the new he fainted, when he got to the hospital, he saw his wife and children there, he walked into the room with a worried look on his face as he ringed his hands. "Kids, do you kind going outside for a while, I need to talk to your mother about something important," he said to them, after a minute they all left, leaving their parents alone to talk. He threw up a silence seal so no one could hear what they were talking about, even his nosy daughters, when it was down he turned to his wife with a sigh.

 

"This is dangers, isn't it?" Kushina asked her husband who simply nodded.

 

"Yes, it could be very dangerous for you," Minato answered.

 

"How dangerous?"

 

"You could die," Minato looked away.

 

"So, I could die huh? Well, I guess there's only one thing left to do, isn't there?"The Uzumaki looked at her husband with sad eyes.

 

Minato nodded, "yes... abort the pregnancy so you can live," he said looking at the ground, he knew how much his wife would hate it, she may never sleep with him again. But it would be worth it as long as he had her by his side.

 

Kushina looked at Minato like he had lost his finger licking mind, "are you crazy! There's no way that I'm doing that!" She all but yell.

 

His head shot up at her words, "but Kushina... you'll die if you do that, didn't you hear me?"

 

Kishina nodded, "yes I did Mina sweety, but there's still no way we're giving up on these children," she said slowly to him as if she was talking to a child. "The only way that I'm giving up the lives of my children is when I'm six feet under, do you understand?"

 

"But... but-but, yo-" he was interrupted.

 

"Minato! Do you understand?" Kushina almost yelled, she didn't wanted to get stressed out, not after what Minato told her and what Tsunade just confirmed for her, she was determined to keep her unborn children at all cost. It went against her family's way to just abort a child, even at the cost of their own lives.

 

Minato jumped at the intensity of his wife's voice, "y-yes d-dear, bu-but wha..." he trailed off when he heard her sign. He knew that sign, he  _hated_ that sign, let it be know that the Red Death of Konoha, even though every well versed in the ways of battle and sealing... Minato had to find out the  _hard way_ what happens when Kushina didn't get her way. To say that he was whipped would not be the way to describe him, in the eyes of the public, he was the strong and powerful 4th Hokage, but when he was alone with his wife... lets just say he doesn't  _always_ wear the pants in the relationship.

 

Kushina leaned back in her bed with her arms folded, she gave her husband a hard stare for a minute or two that made Minato sweat, then she spoke, "I know about your clans hidden ability."

 

Minato's heart skipped a beat, "w-what...?"

 

"I know about your clans ability, you know, the one where the males of the clan carry the child when the woman can't, that ability." Kushina narrowed her eyes, "or did you think that I wouldn't find out about?" Minato paled as he shook his head furiously from side to side, he was scared, his wife knew that his the males in his clan could carry children, to full term if they wanted even and this made him very afraid of what's yet to come. Kushina raised her eyebrows, "you know what this means, don't you?"

 

Minato now looked like a ghost, he gulped, "p-please..." he said in a small voice.

 

"What's the matter Mina sweety? Are you scared that I found out your little secret, huh? Is that it!?" Kushina's voice rose a little bit at the end making her husband flinch.

 

Minato was a very strong shinobi, but when it came to his wife and babies, he wasn't about to get in her way, "n-no, but I-I"

 

"IF YOU SAY 'BUT' ONE MORE TIME!" Kushina yelled making Minato whimper and back up against the wall next to the door.

 

Minato had a reason why he never told his wife about his clans abilities, not because she was a meager yaoi fangirl, he could respect that about her. He was a fan of the stuff too, but that wasn't the problem. Minato just didn't want the side effects that would come with carrying a child, it wouldn't be so bad the first time, but what if his wife wanted more kids and she could carry them, what then? He knew what would, his darling wife would ask for him to carry them again, then the effects would either get worst before they had time to fade, meaning that me may have t say goodbye to his manhood for good! He didn't want that! Then there was the pain, getting stabbed and badly wounded, he could handle that, but CHILD BIRTH?! How did woman do it? Kushina did it four times, the last time being twins, and each time Minato's poor hands had been cruched without mercy, could he handle that much pain in one area of his body? Minato shivered at the thought, but he knew that his options weren't in his favor so, really, he had no say. Divorce or little to no chance of being a man in anything else than name,  _only..._ maybe, in the future to come.

 

He sighed, knowing he had lost before even entering the room, he said, "fine..." he said reluctantly causing Kushina to glaring at him and smile at him. "However, don't think that this means that I can carry baby with both our genes after this and there are conditions that need to be met while I'm pregnant." He took in a deep breath and let it out shakily, "and... some of them you can't meet."

 

Kushina's smile only faded slightly as she wondered what her husband meant by that, but then brushed it off when she imagined what her husband would look like pregnant. She had once seen Shikaku Nara pregnant and it was an entrusting sight to see, her best friends Yoshino and Mikoto came to her one day and the three women started wondering how other men in the village would look if they were pregnant. They all agreed that Fugaku, Mikoto's husband, and Mito Gui would look really weird if they were pregnant. While they were a little on the fence about Kakashi, but they knew Iruka would fit the role perfectly. By this point in here remembering, Kushina had started drooling with a bright blush on her face, Minato shivered again as he undid the seal and went to find Tsunade to transfer their unborn children into his own womb.

 

He saw his children waiting by the door when he opened it, he new that they all were trying to listen in, not just his daughters this time. "Um dad, why's mom making that face?" Asked Shio as she stared at her mom's yaoi fangirl face, not to be mistaken as the regular fangirl face (there is a difference people).

 

Minato looked back at his wife who had started giggling perversely as her drool started to pool in her lap,her tong had slipped out of her mouth as she staring off into space, over all it creeped him out because he knew some of the things she was probably thinking right now. ABOUT HIM. "She's just really happy, that's all...." he turned back to his kids, he put on a smile, "why don't you guys go get something to eat?"

 

"What will you do dad," asked Ryu.

 

"I've got somethings to talk to Tsaunde about, it may take a while so you guys go ahead, okay? I'll catch you guys later," then Minato flashed away.

 

"What was that about?" asked M.J.

 

"Don't know," said Ryu.

 

Just then Narumi's stomach growled, "I want ramen!" Her siblings sighed but headed out to eat some ramen, already forgetting about what they were doing before they got to the hospital.

 

* * *

 

 

"When an adult fox summons and a human summoner bond, they become family or family friends, when a teen fox and a human bond, they become like siblings. However, whenever a baby fox and a human that is not a summoner bond, they become so connected that no matter where or how far they are, they will know exactly how the other is feeling, thinking, and know a little of what their doing.To become so connected like that is so rare that it almost never happens, this connection, though is nice, has a few draw backs. If, for example, the connection is severed for any amount of time, both of you will lose all of your memories of each other and what you did together until you both meet again. During that time you will also not know who you are, where you came from, losing all sense of direction, your minds for the most part will just hit reset until you guys come in contact with each other again, a simple thing of just a brush of the fur, lick on the cheek, or even something so small as sight will ignite the fire of your memories. With that fire lit, you will remember everything that happened before and after you lost each other, but be warned, each emotion you feel will be felt by the other. Every thought you think from now on-wards shall be shared, and with this in mind, the two of you wont ever have to feel alone again. Yet, the biggest thing you would need to fear is death, death comes like a shadow in the night and take away just about anyone whether they are ready or not. If one of you die, it is very likely that your personalities will forever be changed because of it, your trust will wain and an almost unbreakable darkness will come over you in your loneliness."

 

Kurama explained everything he knew about humans bonding with foxes as they walked through Kurama's large palace-like house. Naruto listened intently as he was carried around, due to the fact that his legs wouldn't let him even stand for a long or short period of time. It was a little disturbing to the blond to be carried around the large home, not because he was in a new place that he's never been before, but because he just couldn't walk around it with his own two feet, he was sure to ask Kurama about tit later. Also in his arms was the little fox with his newly golden fur, the little fox would look around curiously at his surroundings with awe and wonder in his eyes, Naruto also took note of this as he wanted to know more. So he asked.

 

"Why did his eyes and fur change?" He asked looking at Kurama.

 

Kurama looked down into his arms between the two who were now staring at him in wonder, he shrugged, "don't know, kit, it they just did," was his answer. Naruto deadpanned at this, for a four year old he made a pretty good deadpan face, the fox-man sighed, "like I said, this is rare and it almost never ever happens. The last time someone bonded with a baby fox was probably around the same time the 1st hokage was just being born, so honestly I don't have any information on it. Now," Kurama then got to a large door and opened it to reveal some stairs heading down, "lets go sign a contract," Naruto and the fox nodded as they started walking down the steps.

 

"Oh, by the way, I forgot to ask but what's this little guy's name?" Naruto asked.

 

"He doesn't have one," Kurama answered.

 

"Huh? How could he not have one, wasn't it kit?" Naruto asked confused.

 

Kurama shook his head, "no no, that's just what we foxes call our young. Some people call us foxes, while others call us kitsunes, but that's mostly for the older ones, so we call our young kits, short for kitsunes. It's better than having to say 'baby fox' or 'little fox' all the damn time." He looked down at Naruto's sad face, he smiled, "but hay, since you brought it up, and he's your responsibility to take care of each other now, why don't you give him a name?"

 

Naruto's head shot up at that, "really?" He asked, Kurama nodded, "alright, lets see, what should I call you?...How about Kibo, I think it stands for hope." The little fox's perked up at the name and he started wagging his tail with joy, he lent over and licked the blond on his cheek, Naruto laughed, "okay, Kibo it is then."

 

Kurama chuckled, they continued walking until they got to the bottom, they started down a dark path that quickly lit up as the fox-man walked by. They stopped in front of an opening and went inside, Kurama put Naruto to sit in middle of the room, Kibo, the newly name golden fox, was on his lap. The red head stood in front of the two and did some hand signs before a large scroll poofed into being, Kurama took the scroll before it fell and opened it before handing it over to the small blond, "just sign your name in blood and put a hand print at the bottom." Naruto bit his finger and spelled out his name on the scroll before placing a bloody hand print on the bottom, the scrool poofed away once he was done, "good, now I'll show you how to summon us whenever you want. A attention because, for my clan, we have two sets of hand signs that need to be done for two different things," Kurama then did a set of hand signs before slamming his hands on the ground after biting his thumb. A bright red fox appeared in front of him the was almost the same size as Kurama's human form, but a few inches bigger, "this his Hati, he specializes in information gathering, battle tactics, ninjutsu, genjutsu, and stealthy prancing."

 

The fox named, Hati, looked around the room before his gaze landed on Naruto and Kibo, he gave a small smile (foxes can smile in my story) then turned to Kurama. "This is a pleasant surprise, I didn't think that I'd ever be summoned again, what's the occasion?" Asked Hati.

 

Kurama smirked, "it's good to see you in such high spirits, I was just showing our new summoner the hand signs."

 

Hati chuckled, "well, well, well," he looked at the blond boy in front of him, "this little kits gonna summon us?" Kurama stood next to Hati with a proud smile, he nodded once, "ha, well lets just hope that Koko does't hear about this before the kit grows up a bit, she'll have a fit."

 

Kurama chuckled again, "don't worry, even if she does hear about it, she wont hurt the first summoner we've had in a few decades."  

 

Hati lowed himself down until he was at eye level with Naruto, "hay kits, what your names?"

 

Naruto sat in awe at the large fox before him, he reached out a hand, "Naruto and this is Kibo," he said as his hand touched Hati's furry head. Hati hummed in approval.

 

The larger fox laid his eyes upon the golden one, "you're one of the rare ones, aren't you?" He asked Kibo, Kibo nodded as his two colored eyes, "when did this happen, Kurama?"

 

"About a week ago," Kurama said nonchalantly. 

 

Hati lifted his head away from Naruto's petting to look back at Kurama, Naruto and Kibo both looked at the red head in shock, "a whole week!?" They all, except Kibo, shouted at the man.

 

"How could we have been asleep for a whole week?" Naruto asked

 

"Time runs differently here, a week here would be like a day out there," Kurama said, "and you've been here for a month."

 

Naruto did the math in his head, which he was very good at for his age, "so I've only been gone for about five days then?" He asked, Kurama nodded,  _"if I've only been here for five days, then how long..."_  his thoughts were cut off when the red head spoke.

 

"Don't worry Naruto, I'll explain when we're done here, is that reasonable?" He asked, the blond pouted but nodded, "good, lets move on to the next set."

 

"You'll have to explain it to me as well, Kurama, the elders wont like this," Hati said as he got up to move next to Kurama who had already started the second set of hand signs.

 

In a poof of smoke, a woman appeared with dark red hair and bright green eyes, she had fox ears on her head and was wearing a plain powder blue with a navy blue obi. She had a sweet face and looked to be in about her late teens to early twenties, she looked around the room for a moment, she smiled sweetly when she saw Naruto with Kibo on his lap. "Hello there, how did you get here?" She said in a silky voice, Naruto blushed at her beauty making the woman laugh, she looked around again stopping at Hati, "Hati, what are you doing here?"

 

"New summoner," Hati replied, "by the way, if you could not beat up Kurama in front of our new friend, it would be greatly appreciated."

 

"Ooooh, so Kurama's back eh? Where is he? I'd like to pay my respects," said the woman.

 

"Behind me," just then a blur shot out from behind Hati, snatching up Naruto and Kibo, and dashing out the opening to the room. "Looks like we'll have to go to his room to get some answers."

 

The girl sighed, "fine, but this better be quick."

* * *

 

 

Back in Kurama's room, he placed Naruto back on the bed, "there, now, how about we get that question you've been holding out in the opening."

 

Naruto looked around to see that he was back in the room, he set Kibo next to him on the sheets, he turned back to Kurama with a deep breath, "what happened before I woke up here?"

 

So Kurama told him, "you died."

 

Naruto gave the man a look, "that's not funny."

 

"I know, I'm not joking," Kurama said returning the look.

 

"How can I be dead when I'm right here?" Naruto asked folding his arms over his chest, "I fell asleep on the night of my birthday, so that makes me five now, it had only been like what? A month, a month and a half, without food? I thou-"

 

"NO! I know what you're about to say and the answer, you seem to forget that you are a four-now five- year old boy, and you have me inside of you. If you where like other kids your age, you wouldn't look like a malnourished two year old, even your twin sister, that Narumo or Natsmi, or whatever here name is, is bigger than you. Not just that, but she eats more than you as well, but it doesn't seem liked you mind before so I didn't say anything back then." Kurama sighed, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get upset."

 

Naruto was looking down at his hands that were now in his lap, "it's fine," he said in a low voice. But, could you tell me...how I..."

 

Kurama nodded, "this goes back a little further than when  _they_ left, but I'll tell you how you got here to save some time." Naruto looked up at the red head then, Kurama took a seat on the bed in front of Naruto since he had been standing before, "you know that you're family left you at home for about five months with barely enough food, right?" Naruto nodded, "after five months your birthday and the festival came around, but you passed out on the first day of the festival, after you passed out, it took the rest of that week and plus two and a half days to get control of your body and bring you here. I guess it was a good thing that they decided to extend the festival for those extra day or else we wouldn't be here now... on the way I used chakra to keep you alive until we got here." Kurama looked over to the covered window as he continued, "when I took control of your body, you... died, somewhat, I think it's because you're an Uzumaki that you even survived that."

 

There was a long silence in the room as Naruto processed this, "how long," he finally said.

 

"About three minutes without a single pule or breathe," Kurama answered.

 

Outside the room, Hati and the woman had come to talk to their clan head, Kurama, but then they heard him talking about how someone died, so they listened in. Curious to see who they were talking about, the woman knocked on the door and opened it a crack, "you might as well come in, I'm guessing you heard what we talked about."

 

"Yes, we heard," said the woman opening the door fully, the two walked into the and in front of the bed. They were all quite until the woman asked, "who died and how do you two know each other, it's not every day that Kurama goes out of his way to keep some one alive to his bed room to heal for a month."

 

Kurama then told them about how he had been tricked into attcking the village, surprising Naruto since his parent's didn't tell him that part (not that they knew), then he told them how he was sealed inside of Naruto. They asked how he got out of the seal and that's when he told them how Naruto had died that day, only for three minute, but death was death. "After bringing him here, I put him into the Mystical Waters to bring him back fully, although I had to dilute the water some because of the side effects, and now we're here."

 

"You used the Mystical Waters on a human without the elder's permission?" Asked the woman.

 

Kurama's eyebrow twitched, "let me ask you this, Hidi, if I'm the clan head, why the hell do I need to go through the elders for every little damn thing?"

 

"Because that's the way it's always been, Kurama, you can't just-"

 

"Let me stop you there, Hidi, I'm the leader, they're the advisers," Kurama said slightly irked that she always took the elder's side over his. "They don't run thing, I do, they stay in the back ground and tell me how they used to do things so I can make my own choice, NOT so I can be a puppet."

 

"HAY! Before you two go at each other's throats, can you *points at Kurama* need to explain why I can't walk. If I've been brought back to life for only being dead for three minutes, then why can't I stand you?" Naruto asked, he was getting sick of all the back and forth about politics, "even though I've been in bed for a month, shouldn't I be able to at least stand up for a few minutes?"

 

"Well from what I can tell, you don't look like you've been very well feed, so how about we cut the chit chat and get some food in you," said Hati after being quite this whole time.

 

"Good idea, Hati, it's good to know that at lest someone is thinking about the young *glares at Hidi*, shall we go?" Said Kurama as he picks up Naruto, while Hati makes his way over to the head of the bed and picks up Kibo by the back of the neck, Hidi just sighed and stomped out of the room.

 

"Is it always so lively around here?" Naruto asked watching as Hidi stormed out.

 

"You'll get used to her... some day," Kurama said and they all left the room.


	4. Son comes... home?

Kurama, Hati, Hidi, Kibo, and Naruto were sitting around a large table with a variety of food before them, Hati had taken a human form once they got to the table. Naruto asked why was in a fox form all this time if he had a human form too, Hati just replied that he uses his fox form to gather information and battle, plus he really likes fox form. Naruto nodded and they started eating, after they ate their fill, they talked about what they were going to do now since Naruto was all healthy again.

 

"Why don't we go to-"

 

"I'ma stop you right there, Hidi, because if you say anything about going to some freakin' elders... we will physically fight, and you know how I am when I fight." Kurama said with his eyes closed as he rubbed his temples, Hidi huffed as she folded her arms and leaned back in her chair talking about how Kurama was a 'meanie'. Said man sighed and turned to look at everyone else, "so Naruto, what would you like to do? You could stay here and recover your legs and arms strength before you leave, or we could run away from the leaf to a better place, some where that'll treat you better."

 

"I would have to agree with that, however, I think you should also start training a little when you're back to fighting strength." Said Hati after drinking some wine, "if Kurama really was sealed inside of you before you came here, it would also be a good idea to learn the basics of Fuinnjutsu while you train."

 

"Fuinnjutsu, that's the art of sealing right?" Naruto asked.

 

"Whoa, where'd this kid come from," Hidi asked getting into the conversation, "I don't think I've ever met a human kid your age that was half as smart as you."

 

Naruto blushed, "no, I just read a lot."

 

"Don't sell yourself short, Naruto, most kids you age know more about what's for dinner than the different types of jutsus there are in the ninja world. Though there are some kids, like clan heir, that have learned this around your age, but to the barest extent and wouldn't know all of them," Hati said sagely.

 

Naruto nodded as he took in the information, "alright, so why do I need to learn fuinnjustu now?"

 

"Because I've seen what it can do for a person in the heat of battle or in every day life, it just depends on what you want to do with it," Kurama said. 

 

"Plus, if you go back and someone was to find out that you no longer contain Kurama within you, thing may not turn out so well, for both of you," Hidi added.

 

"So, what will I be learning, since I guess that one or all of you will be my teacher," asked Naruto.

 

Hati chuckled, "we'll be teaching you much, young one."

* * *

 

 

With some physical exercise, Naruto was able to gain back most of the strength in his legs so he could walk around on his own, however, that didn't mean Hidi did pick him up and cuddle him like a baby from every now and then. It took almost a full three weeks to get back to Naruto back to his prier strengths, after that, it was time to start training, even though he had already started his fuinjutsu training with Hidi while he was getting his leg strength back. The physical train was done with Hati and Kurama, with the former teaching him simple genjutsu and gave tips on info gathering, while the latter taught him low level ninjutsu and how to escape the villagers when need be. Kurama thought he would take it easy on the poor kid, since in the clan he was know to be a tough sensei that always gets results from his students, he only came up with (what he thought) was an easy workout regiment:

 

10 Lap around the palace-like house 

20 Sit-ups

35 Squats

27 Kicks to a tree (each leg)

27 Punches to a tree (each fist)

Breakfast

40 Laps around the house

50 Push-ups

35 pull ups from a tree

Fuinjutsu practice with Hadi

Genjutsu practice with Hati

Lunch

14 Laps around the house

15 squats

30 Punches to a wall (each)

30 Kicks to a stump (each)

40 Push-up

Dinner

2 Laps

Bath and then bed

 

Of course when Kurama presented this scheduled to the others, Hidi beat some sense into him so he would cut all the numbers to at least half so Naruto didn't die.Naruto also yelled at the fox-man telling him "I'm only five years old, why are you trying to kill me?" Naruto then began to anime tears which maid Hidi beat Kurama up more while Kibo and Hati consoled him.

 

It's been about two whole months in the land of the foxes, Naruto found out that they called the place 'Trickster Ally' because foxes are natural tricksters. It was now time for Naruto to make a choice on whether he went home, or went somewhere else. He sat and thought about it all day a few days before hand, if he went back there was a chance that nothing had changed and his family hadn't even looked for him, let alone if they had come back to the village yet. But then again, there was a chance that they had changed and did look for him after he left, he didn't want to believe that they had forgotten about him for so long without them noticing or trying to look for him. He had hope that they had changed and would include him in things more, so he made his choice, much to Kurama's displeasure, but he too also had hope for change. Before leaving Trickster Ally, Hidi and Naruto helped make a modified version of the Seal that Minato had made and put it on Naruto. This seal would allow Naruto to summon Kurama out of the seal in his human form whenever he wished, Kurama could also go in and out of the seal whenever he wanted, but he couldn't go more than half a village length away or else he would get sucked back into the seal again. With everything all ready to go, Kurama taugh Naruto the hand signs for a revers summoning before hopping back into the newly made seal, Naruto said goodbye to Hati and Hidi before placing Kibo on his head and poofing out of there.

* * *

 

**Konoha- Namikaze house**

 

Minato was in the shower thinking about what had happened in the past month, he was about a month pregnant with his and Kishina's new's kids and Kushina didn't seem to want to leave him alone about it. She's the same as always, but as soon as she sees him, she gets this pery look on her face that always makes him shiver, it only got worse when she stumbled upon his yaoi porn the day after they came and he was now carrying their children. It happened so quick that it was almost a blur to him now, he was sitting in their bed reading since he was sore from the procedure to transplant their children into him, Tsunade told him that after he got home, he couldn't go back to the office for a few days. This news almost made him jump for joy,but he couldn't because the Senju medic would scold him for it, so he just smiled, after they got home, Kushina went down to the kitchen to make him something to eat. Minato thought it would be a good time to take out his secret books, he was just right in the middle of the part where the main character was about to have sex with the bandit leader to free his friends and save his village, when Kushina and Shio burst into the room trying to tell him something. However, when they saw the orange book, they were about to give him a talking-to until Shio spotted the title and started to blush feverishly. When asked what was wrong, she just pointed out the title to her mom, Kushina's eyes widened and she appeared next to her husband, snatching the book away from his hands and read the page in a matter of seconds. Minato knew that it was too late to escape, not that he could run in his condition anyways, as he waited for the inevitable to happen. During his little wait, which wasn't long at all, the rest of his kids came in trying to say something that seemed extra important at the time, but they were all stopped when they heard Kushina's perverted giggling so they asked what was going on.

 

Minato sighed as he turned of the water, that was the day that he found out that Ryu was gay and was dating Itachi in secret so they wouldn't be caught by the Uchiha's. M.J. told them that he too read those books, but he was fully straight. He also mourned at the way Kushina had turned their current youngest, Narumi, into a major yaoi fangirl, there was now no escaping the weirdness that was Kushina's favorite pass time, yaoi paring with her daughters. He asked Shio how she knew about the yaoi edition of the Icha Icha books, what she told him had shocked Minato even now a month later. It seemed that Kushina thought that it would be okay to actually OUT LOUD all the yaoi edited romance books she had to Shio starting from when the girl was barely two years old.

 

"She's corrupted them too soon," Minato said to himself as waterfall tears streamed down his face as he dried off from the shower. He went into his and Kushina's room and got dressed, when he had the clothes on his body he made his way down to the kitchen, passing Kushina and their two daughters along the way. He anime cried when he heard Narumi asking her mom if she had anymore stroies about her father falling in love with other guys (Kushina only gave her yaoi fluff to read since she's still only five). 

 

"Sure thing sweety, what story would you like to read?" Kushina as sweetly holding up an extra copy of some stories she wrote about Minato.

 

Minato quickly went into the kitchen to block them out, not wanting to hear he baby girl talk about him doing other guys. Once in the kitchen, he made himself a large sandwich with everything on it but the kitchen sink, he was halfway though said sandwich, thinking about making another, when he heard something go 'poof' and a few loud gasps. Not wanting to abandon his work of delicious art, he took the sandwich with him to see what was happening, when he got there and saw what or more over  _who_ it was, he very nearly dropped his sandwich. Tears fell from his eyes, these being of joy, and ran over to the person that was currently being gawked at by his family. When he got closer, he fell to his knees and wrapped his arms around the small boy, for this was his son, so everyone else joined in and it became a group hug.

 

"Naruto where have you been for the past month, I've been so worried about you," Minato said after a while, tears still rolling down his eyes.

 

Naruto looked up at his father with his mismatch eyes, "really? Then how come you guys left me all along?" He asked bluntly, but also curious.

 

"There was a man, he snuck into the village and kidnapped Narumi, he didn't expect to be gone as long as we had, but we just had to find her," Minato said.

 

"Oh Souchi, I'm so sorry I left you all alone here, i'm so sorry that you were alone. I shouldn't have gone with them, I should have stayed her with you, but I didn't and I'm so so so sorry," Kushina said through her sobs.

 

"Are you alright little Prince?" Shio asked forgoing her usual nickname for him.

 

"Yeah, I'm fine," Naruto said as he was continually crushed by his family.

 

After a little more crushing, they left him breath and backed up a little, that was when they saw the little fox on his head. "Oh, hello, Naruto why do you have a fox on your head?" Minato asked looking at the golden fox on his son's head.

 

"Oh," Naruto took Kibo off his head and held him in his arms, "this is Kibo I... found him, in the woods... and he kinda led me here after a while."

 

 **"You're such a good little lier, aren't ya kit?"** Kurama sarcastically thought to Naruto.

 

 _"Shut up, I've never had to lie before,"_ Naruto thought back.

 

"Naruto, what kind of fox is he? I want one too, then we can match!" Narumi said happily as she petted Kibo's head.

 

"Uh, a special one," Naruto said not sure what to say to here.

 

Minato looked at his wife, she looked back at him, they were wondering the same thing, _"could it be a summons?"_

 

Wait, is that a summons?" M.J. asked looking at his youngest brother.

 

"Uhhh," Naruto didn't want to tell them that he got a summons at only five.

 

"If it is, you'll be so lucky, I wanted to get the toad contract like dad and grandpa, but dad said I'll have to wait until I get to the academy," Narumi pouted.

 

"Don't worry, Narumi, it wont be long until you go to the academy," said Ryu.

 

"Yeah, and before you go, you can train with us some more. You both can," Shio said with a big smile at her two younger siblings.

 

"That's right," Minato said while Kushina nodded, "we can start training you guys tomorrow morning, bright and early."

 

Narumi cheered while Naruto was silent, he didn't want to give up hope so soon, so he let things just play out. When Narumi finally stopped jumping around the house, Kushina suggested that they go out for some ramen, this time they didn't forget Naruto. They ate bowl after bowl of the stuff, when they came back him it was a little past midnight (Minato had finished his sandwich while everyone was getting ready to go), they went to bed late and woke up just as late. Minato kept his word and made sure that he woke his son up for his first official day of training, he taught them tree and water walking, some basic jutsus, and left all the other physical stuff to Kushina since he couldn't expend too much chakra. They continued this for a few more months, Minato's growing belly meant that he couldn't get up and help out as he wanted, so he was forced to just watch. Naruto had never been happier than when he was training with his family, of course he also got extra training from Kurama whenever his family wasn't around. All though they all hung out with him, things started to go back to the way it was before, if not worse, after the triplets were born. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to writ more but I got lazy, plus i'm working on 4 other stories right now so yea.


	5. The fall back and the runaway

**2 Year time skip**

 

It's been about two years since Naruto had come back form Trickster Ally and Kurama was furious! When Naruto had come back to his family, Kurama hoped that things would change, and they did, for a few months. The day after the little curly blond haired, mismatch eyed, whiskered cheek bundle of brains came back to his red and yellow haired family, they did everything together, and that made Kurama happy. They trained together, ate together, went out to the park together, it was so much togetherness that it was almost smothering. When Minato's belly got bigger, Kurama told Naruto about his father's clan, since he had met some members of the Namikaze clan back in his younger days, Naruto understood and surely enough he had more questions to asked which the old fox was happy to answer for him. After getting all the details he could out of his tenant, he made it his job to help out around the house as best he could, he cleaned, reached things that was too low for Minato to reach in his pregnant state, and he even cooked dinner for the whole family once or twice when Kushina was too busy to. The best thing about when he cooked, the hose didn't burn down, plus he summoned Hidi to help, though she mostly eached things that was too high up or read out the directions to him, operate the oven, stuff like that and every dish he made tasted grate. The food that he made were so good that Minato had begged for Naruto to cook for him more often even though the boy was only five at the time, but Naruto agreed anyways. 

 

During the months that Minato was stuck in bed due to the extra weight of his unborn children, he was gladly offered the best room service that a five year old with a high IQ could provide. Kushina felt a little put out that her five year old son was being asked to do all the things that she usually did for the family, but got over it once she tasted how good his food was, from then on she made it a point to help out her curly haired son. Shio asked for some cooking lessons because, even though her brother, Ryu, was dating Itachi, she had a crush on the Uchiha prodigy and wanted to see if she could win his heart from her brother, she failed in every attempt. However, she wasn't too let do by it for long because Naruto made her some 'broken heart cake' that cheered her right up. While that was going om, M.J. taught Naruto, in secret, the Rasingan not expecting for his youngest brother to master the jutsu so quick, it took Naruto under a month to master, M.J. didn't know at the time that Ryu had also taught their youngest bother a jutsu: Shadow Clone Jutsu. After learning the Shadow Clone Jutsu from Ryu, he used it to help him clean the house and make lunch and dinner, but he left breakfast to his mom since she was feeling left out at home. Naruto also used the Shadow Clone Jutsu to study and continue his training with Kurama in secret. It was with these clones that Naruto found out about all the villagers hate for Kurama by showing a few of his clones on very  _very_ many occasions what they truly felt about him, the vessel of the Kyuubi. It was also with his Shodow Clones that he found out how much Donzo wanted to turn him into one of his ROOT agents, it was after getting by those memories that Naruto made it his mission to avoid the cripple mummy and his ROOT soldiers at all cost. 

 

Then of course, Minato hat the triples, that day, and almost half the night, his screams of agony and pain was heard through out the village. Kushina got to experience what every husband goes through when their wives were delivering, although, if possible, Minato's delivery was more.... emotional? Yeah lets say that, emotional, because it took Tsunade, Kushina, Shizuna, Shio, and the rest of the medics in the room to convince Minato to go of the newly born triples so they could be checked out, it also took all of the medics in the room calm the blond hokage down whenever one of the triples started whimpering in their sleep. When Tsunade tried to give one of the new born children their shots so they couldn't get the flu and die or something (I forgot what those are called), Minato had to be taken out of the room and sedated, because he was disturbing the peace too much. Kushina made a mental note of all of this and went back to read up more on the Namikaze clan to find out as to why her husband was acting more hysterical than an over protective mother when her baby is being taken away for no reason. She found out that all the Namikaze males that do get pregnant not only become flooded with hormones after they deliver, but their bodies slowly become more feminine after each pregnancy until they turn into an almost complete woman, save for their manhood, which only shrinks down to half size by that point. It was by the end of that year, after Naruto turned six, that he took note of how often his family was starting to forget him again just like before. Minato had given birth to three boys: Menma, Kohaku, and Neko.

 

Menma had blond spiky hair and green eyes.

Kohaku had short red hair and blue eyes.

Neko, somehow, had hair and eyes like his brother, Naruto, but he was a curly red head with blue and green eyes, he was also the only one who was born with whisker marks.

 

After seeing Neko's face for the first time, and he was also under so meds that help with the pain of male delivery, Minato named him Neko because at the time he thought he was staring at a cat. 

 

**Flashback**

 

_"Uuhh, Minato, why'd you name him Neko?" Kushina asked her husband while she held Menma and Tsunade held Kohaku._

 

_Minato turned slightly unfocused eyes to his wife, "because he's a cat," he slightly slurred._

 

_Kushina looked at Tsunade with a raised eyebrow, "he's on a high dose of painkiller, he'll come out of it by tomorrow," the blond medic said._

 

_Kushina nodded, they put the triplets in their respective bassinets and went to sleep for the night, the next morning Minato woke up feeling like he had been feeling like he'd been run over by three rikages. He looked around the room and saw Kushina taking pictures of each of their older children holding their new born siblings, it was a sweet moment._

_When they noticed that he was awake, Kushina came over to him, "hay their sleepy head, how do you feel?"_

 

_"Like the rikage and his sons took turns stomping on me," Minato said groggily, he looked over to his new born children, "so what did we name them ?"_

 

_"You don't remember dad?" Shio asked holding Menma as if he was made out of glass._

 

_Minato shook his head, but that gave him a small headache, "man those were some strong painkillers," he said._

 

_Kushina looked between her older and younger kids, debating on whether she should tell him or not, she finally turned back to her husband. A smile on her face, "well, you named him *points to Menma* Menma, you named him *points to the child Ryu was holding* Kohaku after you aunt, and this guy is Neko," she said as to brought M.J. closer to Minato as he was holding said child._

 

_"Huh? Neko? Why would I name him that?" Minato asked looking at Kushina as if she had grown a second head._

 

_"Well dad, he has whiskers, so I guess you were trying to be funny or something," M.J. shrugged._

 

_"Whiskers?" Minato looked down at the newly born Neko that was now in his arms, looking up at his father with mismatch eyes, Minato blinked a few times before he started to chuckle, "hay there Neko, I hope you like your name, because I think it suits you quite well."_

 

_"Seriously dad, why are you naming him that? The kids are gong to make fun of him when he gets older," Naruto said while Kibo nodded his head in agreement. Said fox was sitting onto of Naruto's head and almost completely blended with the main if it wasn't for him nodding his head._

 

_Minato chuckled again, "don't worry Naruto, with looks like ours, they wont be making fun for long. Besides, a few name calling never hurt anybody too bad, right?"  
_

 

_Naruto looked at his dad for a while before whispering, "I hope your right."_

 

**Flashback end**

When they brought Menma, Kohaku, and Neko home, they fussed over the three babies endlessly. However, when three babies turned one, it became clear that Neko wasn't as loud and rowdy as the rest of his family, he was like Naruto, he would rather read than run around in the grass, but that's not to say that he didn't like doing it from time to time. Naruto ended up spending more and more time with Neko, teaching him how to read and write, all the things he had learned on his own when his family ignored him before. A little before Naruto's seventh birthday, he realized it, he was in denial before but he realized it now. Not even trying to do so, he had turned into a servant of the family, he couldn't believe how much of a fool he had been until now, he cooked, cleaned, washed their clothes and took care of everything else around the house, he was even the one to watch Menma, Kohaku, and Neko while the others either trained, went on missions, or were at the office. Kurama had noticed it the year before and tried to tell Naruto about it, but Naruto still wanted to believe that his family wasn't doing what they did to him before. He was right though, they weren't as bad as before, no they were worse than before, and what really drew the line was that he saw them doing the same thing to Neko. Naruto was boiling in rage at that, not only neglected him again, but they were also abandoning Neko, But why? No that didn't matter, he had to think of a plan to either make them remember both of them, or at least Neko, or he had to escape and take Neko with him so they could start over.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter, Naruto runs, but where to? and who comes along for the ride?


	6. The Runaways

**3 Months before Naruto runs away**

 

It's been nearly a full two years since Naruto had come back to his family, within that time Naruto has done everything for them: cook, clean, watch his younger siblings. He now basically holds the whole house together, he's done everything aside from sleep with the husband and bear the children himself. He's done so much for them that they started to take it for granted and took advantage of his willingness to even do these things at all. On his sixth birthday, he was the one to make the cake, food, and drinks for the party, he was so busy making all the food for the party that he did't even notice that didn't get a present from anyone else, although his parents did give him some cook books and cooking wear (aprons and chef hats, things like that). It was nice of them to get him these things, however, what he was really hoping for were some ninja tools so he could use them when he goes to the academy once he turns eight.

 

 _"Kurama, be honest with me, did I make a mistake by doing all the house work?"_ Naruto asked Kurama after everyone had left the party that night, while he was stuck cleaning up after a party he didn't even get to enjoy.

 

 **"Maybe, kit, maybe,"** said Kurama from inside the seal, he had his doubts about this whole thing ever since Kushina had asked the young blond to take over making breakfast as well as the other meals.  **"maybe Hidi taught you how to cook too well."**

 

 _"Hidi didn't teach me how to cook, I taught myself, you were just asleep when I actually started practicing how to cook on my own,"_ Naruto thought.

 

 **"Really? Well I don't blame you, besides, you're really good at it too,"** praised Kurama making Naruto smile.

 

 _"Yeah, you're a supper good cook brother, I can't get enough of your food,"_ these were the thoughts of Kibo, since Hidi placed the seal on Naruto, she thought it would be nice to include the little fox in the mind link between Naruto and Kurama.

 

 _"Thanks alot, Kibo, but I still wish that I could have eaten some of the food I made at the party. It would have been nice to have gotten out of the kitchen for a change, plus I'm always at home too, which is kinda sad for a kid don't you think?"_ Naruto thought sadly as he finished cleaning up the mess that was left over from the party, he gathered the trash up in one spot, took out a sealing scroll, sealed everything in it and then burned the scroll, destroying the trash inside.  _"Well, now that that's done, what now?"_

 

Kurama thought for a moment before snapping his fingers,  **"kit, you still remember the revers summoning I taught you?"**

 

 _"Yeah, I remember everything you've taught me so far,"_ Naruto thought.

 

Kurama nodded,  **"good, why don't you pick up your baby brother and Kibo, then we can head over to Trickster Ally."**

 

 _"Huh? Neko? Is it even safe for him to go to a summoner's land so young?"_ Naruto thought as he looked over to the curly red headed little boy who was playing with Kibo, it seemed that Kushina and Minato was so wrapped up in the party that they had forgotten two of the quitter members of the family, _"I mean he's only just turned one."_

 

Kurama nodded,  **"don't worry kit, I'm sure that it's perfectly safe to bring the little gaki with us...now hurry up before someone actually remembers they forgot you. I've got a present of my own to give you three."**

 

Naruto wasn't sure, but he did like the sound of getting presents, knowing Kurama, it wouldn't be some shitty last minute present from the store. He walked over to Neko and Kibo, he let Kibo climb onto his head while he picked up Neko from the ground, the little red head squealed at the action since he craved the attention from another human being. Their parents, even though they now had eight kids running around, that's no excuse to just forget the youngest child in the house (I mean seriously, it's only been a year since the kid's been born and they already forgot about him, who does that?), Naruto sighed at the neglect of their parents. Holding his little brother on his hip with his arms close together, he quickly did the hand signs and they poofed away before anyone could notice they were gone.

* * *

 

 

**Trickster Ally**

 

The trio appeared in front of the gates to Kurama's palace,  **"very good kit, now let me out,"** said the fox excitedly, Naruto put Neko down, much to the young boy's disappointment, and summoned Kurama out of the seal. Kurama came out in a swirl of wind mixed with fire, he looked down at his human form then back to the three in front of him, he smiled proudly at his container and student, "I'm so glade that your my container and not you spoiled twin sister," he said in his human voice. Yes, that's right, ever since Narumi had come back from the Toad Mountain, she had started to show signs of being very spoiled, not that her parents helped the situations much, or at all, by giving her what she wanted when she wanted it. Kurama's eyes then met the mismatching eyes of Neko, he was always intrigued by the small child, not only had he been  _born with_ the whisker marks already on him, there was one time that the small child actually entered the mindscape with Naruto, it only caught the fox-man's attention because the young be wasn't a jinturiki like his brother. 

 

Kurama picked up the small child and chuckled as the little boy's hand reached out to touch his furry fox ears in wonderment, he let the boy play with his ears and looked bak to Naruto and Kibo, "come, lets go tell them that we're hear."

 

Naruto nodded, Kibo, who wasnow on the ground, followed them all into through the gates, up the steps to a large double where soft music could be heard. Kurama put his hands on the door, "Naruto, I just want to say," he then opened the door and a bunch of foxes of all sizes and people with fox ear jumped out yelling "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KIT!!"

 

It was a shock at first, but then Naruto's mouth broke into a grate smile, the type of smile that threatens to spits your face from pure joy. He walked into the room and looked around at all the smiling people that were smiling back at him, tears rolled down his cheeks, "thank you, thank you all," he ran back to Kurama and hugged him. He sniffled, "thank you so much, I didn't think that I would cry from being happy, but I can't help it," he said hugging the fox-man tighter.

 

Kurama shifted Neko from his shoulders to his arms, he leaned down a bit and placed a hand on the blond's head, "your welcome it, anytime," Naruto lifted his head to smile up at the fox-man, "now go enjoy the party, we've got all night."

 

Naruto nodded and ran back to the party, he spent the rest of the night dancing, singing, laughing, playing with the other kids that were there, and the best part was that he got a cake with just his name on it. The cake was huge, even with the amount of people and foxes in the room, there would still be some left over, but that was fine because Naruto just  _loved_ so much. Kibo was mixing and mingling with the others too, he hadn't played with other children other than Neko before, just like Neko had never seen so many foxes before so they were having a time and a half at the party. The music was upbeat and no one was sitting down for long, the adults drank wine while the kids ran around, and then there were the lights. The lights, when they first came, was a bright thing of yellow and soft orange that lite the room well, giving off a welcoming feel, but then they started to change colors while still keeping the room well lite. Blues, greens, reds, pinks, purples, every color that you could image being out there were in the room lighting it up, it wasn't until Naruto actually looked up at the changing lights to see why. There in on the ceiling and floating all round the room were jellyfish, the see-though ones that look almost like aliens (well to me anyways) were swimming all round the room changing to different colors every now and then. The jellyfish swam around as if they were still underwater, but not only that, some carried around trays of food or drink to the party goers who just continued parting as if this were normal, it fascinated Naruto to no end and he was entranced by these floating, colorful beings of light around the room.

 

"They're not just for show you know, they can fight pretty well too, if given the chance," Naruto turned around to Kiden, an old fox with mismatching eyes, like him, that he meet after Kurama started training him. However, this fox's eyes were brown and gold, he had a beard, even in his fox form, that was growing gray while he wore wire rimed glasses with a chain around his neck. In the past year, this old fox had taught Naruto a lot about the fox clan's history and his own human history as well, Naruto respected this fox greatly.

 

Naruto bowed in respect once the older fox came close, "what do you mean, sensei?"

 

"Now, now, there's no need for all the formality today, it's your birthday, rise up child and let me read your face," said Kiden as he sat on his hind legs in front of the young blond, he was only a foot taller than the boy so he still had to look down a bit to see him.

 

Naruto rose from the ground and looked into the brown and gold eyes of the aged fox, after a few seconds Kiden smiled, "you're future is bright, young ones go with kinds and love, memories of wealth and fortune unseen by the material eyes will take you farther than the limits of others of pride and arrogance. However, beware the flaming eyes of hate that takes power instead of earning it, they shall try to trap you, but a light from the innocent will always kid you back to your true home. Even on the darkest night when both sights are lost," Kiden smiled at the boy then and looked up to the floating jellyfish in the room, "I see it clearly in your eyes, a bright light that shines even now when things seem dim."

 

Naruto heard a few mummers in the crowd, he looked around to see that everyone had gathered around once the aged fox had asked to read his face. He didn't understand it at the time, but he knew it had to be importation, after Kiden had finished talking, he wished Naruto a happy birthday, saying that he would talk to the boy later. Even one went back to the party soon after the old fox walked away, Naruto wondered what his sensei meant but his thoughts were cut when Kibo and Neko came up to him to open presents. From Hidi, he got a book on advanced genjutsu and another on advanced sealing techniques. Hati gave him some scrolls on some of the best pranks he had ever down, making him promise never to show it to anyone, ever, and a special side bag with a seal on it so that it acted more like a storage scroll but in the form of a bag to carry even more stuff. He also got a special made Zonpakto (think Ichigo's sword in banki form, but the blade is red), finger-less gloves, A-B rank jutsu scrolls to practice with when he got older, some ninja cloths, a book on how to make your own disguise in twenty minute to an hour or less, kunai knives, shurikens, some animal plushys from the kids (he had a lot of plushys by the end of the night), and more books on different subjects. When all the presents were given, they had some more cake and did some more dancing until all the kids in the room fell asleep seeing as it was well passed every ones bedtime, so much so that by the time the party actually ended, it was already dawn (man those foxes sure know how to throw a party). 

 

Naruto was way too tired to help clean up, since he was already asleep under a pile of kids and little foxes, Neko had fallen asleep very happy that night because it was the first time he made so many friends at once. The way the kids fell asleep, none of the parents knew how to get their own child out of the pile without waking them, plus it was just too cute move them, so the parents took a few pictures to saver the moment before leaving all the children in the hands of their clan head, Kurama (they were also too drunk to tell which one was which). 

* * *

 

 

The next day, all the kids woke up in the same pile looking for their parents, Kurama a sured them that them that their parents will come to pick them all up around lunch time and that they could continue to play with Naruto, Neko, and Kibo. All the kids cheered as they ran off to do just that, Naruto had no complaints about it what so ever and they played for hours, after eating breakfast of course. There was still some cake left over from the party so Hidi gave  all the kids a peace to go home with, seeing as there was still enough to go around, Naruto wondered how that could be until Hidi told him that she had made two cakes for the party that night, just in case there wasn't enough of the first one, the guest only ate the first cake and she cut up the second one to give to the kids, "can't wast good cake," was his response. When all the kids were gone and it was just about time to shove off back to his own home, Naruto wanted to find Kiden to ask his some questions. He found the aged fox in the back garden staring up at the clouds laying on his back, giggling at something, Naruto never stopped wondering about the old fox, he was so wise, yet he always found him doing like this. Then again the fox was also quit old so it would be understandable if this was the start of the Kiden losing his mind to old age.

 

"Come here kit, let me tell you a few things about these clouds," Kiden said through fits of giggles.

 

"Yes Sensei," Naruto sat down next to Kiden and waited for the fox to speak.

 

Kiden closed his eyes as breeze blow by, "you will go mad in that village, you must leave it behind," he said with a serious tone.

 

Naruto looked at the wise fox in wonder, he hardly ever went out into the village, even then he makes sure to cover his face when he's there, "what do you mean 'I will go mad in that village', what do you mean?"

 

The wind blew harder as soon as Naruto said that, Kiden grunted and rolled over, he turned to face the garden once more, he had a worried look on his face as he looked down to the grass. "I don't want to tell him that," he seemed to be talking to himself, the wind stopped for a second before the sky started to get dark and thunder could be heard, "he's still so young and yet he must go trough such a thing," the fox closed his eyes then.

 

Naruto looked around them trying to find the person who was making his sensei sad, but found only them, he looked up to the fox, "tell who what? Who's so young? What are you saying, sensei?"

 

Kiden shook his head before lifting it to the darkening sky, "okay," he said and the sky got brighter again, he took in a deep breath before opening his eye to look up at the clouds. "Naruto, these clouds, they have a voice in them that is hard to ignore, you must listen to what they say or feel their wrath.... do you understand?" He turned his head to said boy who looked into his chocolate brown and soft golden eyes, the boy saw sadness there that spoke of years of pain, heartache, and too many struggles to count, they were also over flowing with knowledge.

 

Naruto nodded his head because those eyes were stronger still, stronger than him, "what do they say?"

 

Kiden kept his eyes on the blond, reading his face, searching it, when he found what he was looking for, he turned back to the clouds. "They say to run, they to hid... they don't want you to fall, for it will be a long way down, to place they can't reach.... they also say you're strong, stronger than anyone before, your strength... your strength will save you, if not the world. They say to be brave, they say don't cry, they say to run and run far and fast when you do." The fox closed his eyes and continue to talk as if e was reading a script for the first time and he's trying to understand each word, or as if some one was telling him what to say and he just wanted to get it all right. Like a message that will save a life. Kiden's eyes twitched every so often as the wind whistled around them, the leaves picked up and flowed around them, encircling them. "They say you bring... fear? People fear you, for they are wrong and you are right, but they mustn't for you are their savior..."

 

"Why do they fear me?"Asked Naruto.

 

"They fear not you, but your power, the power not of a fox, but of something greater..." Kiden said with his eyes still closed, a light drizzle started to fall on them.

 

"My power, but what did I do to them for them to fear me?" 

 

"....Nothing..." Kiden opened his eyes, a tear rolled down from his eyes.

 

"What's wrong, sensei?" Naruto asked worried about the old fox.

 

"They say you must leave the village.... I say you must run, run far, and..." Kiden looked over the fields of flowers before them that was surrounded by tall grass, "you must find my kin before you leave."

 

"...Your...kin?" Naruto looked at Kiden for a moment in thought, "who?"

 

"He's not a fox, but he's born my kin, it was a short line of my kind in the clan... he lives in you village and stares at the clouds, just as me..." Kiden smiled as he remembered. "He looks up not knowing that I can see him, he hides his mind but is still so bright, he's like the wind in a way... back and forth, slightly swaying."

 

"How will I know who you're talking about?" Naruto asked.

 

Kiden looked at the boy, "he will find you at your darkest hour, you will go into the village and you find demons in flesh... they will find you first." He frown, "don't let them catch you, they will give you nightmare," he turned back to the sky for the last time, "on October 1st, get ready to run," then he walked away from the boy. Naruto stayed there for a while before going back into the house to find Kurama.

* * *

 

 

When the for of them got back to the Namikaze house, it was mid-day and nobody had noticed that Naruto and Neko were missing, they did, however, notice that Kibo wasn't around. When Naruto notice all this, he wasn't sure if he should be that they only noticed missing golden fox, or two missing human children that is related to them by blood. He decided to not let it affect him, times like these just make him want to move on, find his own bath, even if he is alone now it wont be that forever, right? Two weeks later, Naruto was stuck home doing all the work (again), when he noticed that there wasn't enough food for dinner that night, he really didn't feel like going to town him self because he had used up too much chakra making shadow clones to train with Kurama in the woods where on one would notice, not to mention he had a few more running around the house cleaning and watching the triples (again). The whole house was being cleaned for some dinner party that Kushina was throwing later that evening, the house itself was in no way small or just a regular big house, before his 'family' left him in the house to find Narumi, the house could have been thought to be just a really big house. But now it wasn't, it was almost bigger than the Hyuuga compound, and Naruto was tasked with the job of cleaning the whole place by himself, was it too much to ask that at least M.J. or Ryu, maybe even Shio or one of their parents help him now and then? No, apparently, they all seemed to be  _too busy right now_ to lift a finger to help, those basterds.

 

"Nii-san, so you talking to?" Neko asked in his sweet one year old voice that brought Naruto out of hisranting, not knowing that most of the stuff he was thinking was as being said out loud.

 

Naruto turned a sweet smile on youngest of the triples, "oh no one, I was just thinking out loud that's all," he said.

 

"Oh... okay, can I have something to eat, I'm hungry," Neko said rubbing his tummy.

 

Naruto nodded, "sure thing," he turned to one of the clone who were closer to him, "can you take Neko into the kitchen to get something to eat?"

 

"Sure thing Boss, come on Neko, let's eat," said the clone.

 

Naruto sighed and walked over to the front door,  _"well, we need something for dinner to night as well, and then there's that damn dinner party that 'mom' wants me to cook for, uhg, why can't I be a normal six year old?"_ Naruto mentally grumbled as he grabbed his usual disguise and put on his shoes, "I'm heading to the store, don't burn the place down while I'm gone!" He yelled into the house as he grabbed his sealing bag he got from the party, the money his mom left to buy the food, then he walked out of the house after getting confirmation from his clones that the house would still stand when he gets back.

 

Naruto walked into the village, his hood up, heading for the market place. He learned how to henge his looks from one of the scrolls that he had gotten for his birthday, however, he could only henge a few things, like his hair and eyes, nothing too big, for right now but he was getting better. Right now he had henged himself to look just enough like an old lady that it really only came down to his acting, it was a low level henge that any high ranking ninja could dispel from a mile away, luckily he was only take the back allies to go shopping for food. From past experience with clones he's learned a few thins:

 

  1. Don't go to the village at night or at dusk
  2. Back allies are your friend when you don't want to be seen
  3. Civilians are dumb and annoying 
  4. Shinobis coming from a bar tend to want to get frisky with just about anyone or thing
  5. The fan girls are very active when school is over and if you don't get your major shopping done before then, there will be an ever longer line to get food
  6. Don't say the name  _Naruto_ while in town because it usually meant  _Demon_
  7. Saturday, Sunday, and Wednesday are the best days to get better deals on food in the market



Thanking every deity out there that it was Wednesday, with four house before school gets out, and most of the shinobi faction was off on long missions so there were very little ninja in the market today. Now if he could only finish shopping, get home, cook the food, and start working on his favorite hobby (baking cakes and other sweets) without any interruptions, the day would be perfect. Naruto walked around the market place collecting all the lings he would need, putting them all into his sealing bag to free up his hands, he had finished all the required shopping, and thanks to all the deals, still had some money left over. Happily keeping up his act to of a frail old woman, he made his way into his favorite baking goods store, it was an hour before he came out again with bags upon bags of baking stuff, he checked to make sure that no one was looking before going into an ally way to seal up all his findings. After he was done, he was starting to feel exhausted from all his chakra use, he needed to take a seat some where to rest and eat. He pasted by Ichiraku's for a few bowls or the heavily ramen, he only had 30 bowls when he thought about Menma, Kohau, and Neko, the first two had been eating ramen since they grew teeth, but some how Neko had never had the stuff before.

 

"Hay pops, mind if I get one bowl to go?" Naruto asked the owner (he didn't like calling people he respected old or anything like that)

 

Tauchi turned to his number one costumer, by this point Naruto had already dropped the henge, he smiled and nodded, "sure thing, Naruto, I could throw in two more for your other brothers, free of charge." 

 

Naruto thought about it for a second, he shrugged, "sure thing pops, why not."

 

Tauchi nodded and went to work prepping the order, when he was done he presented it to Naruto, who then payed the bill, full price even though Tauchi said he didn't have to. "Thanks a lot pops, well I better get going before someone starts missing me, see you later," the blond jinturiki hopped off the stool and began walking out of the shop as he slid the ramen into his sealing bag.

 

"See you again soon Naruto," Tauchi said waving, "man, there should be more kids like him, hard working and smart too," he turned back to his work, "I wonder if he would mind coming to work for me for a little extra money in his pocket?"

 

Meanwhile, Naruto was walking down the street minding his own business when suddenly a drunk man bumped into him and knocked him to the ground. Naruto scrabbled to his feet and bowed his head, "I'm sorry I wasn't looking whe-" he was cut off though when he noticed that not only the man was heavily drunk, he was also a shinobi too.  _"why's he drinking during the day? Schools not even over yet, he should at least wait until sunset to start."_

 

The drunk man looked down at Naruto, "hhhuuhh?" He slurred, he was about to apologize too but then got a good look of who he was talking to, "hhhayy yyoouuur tth-that demonnn arrren't yya?" Slurred the drunk shinobi as he, somehow, quickly grabbed onto the boy in front of him, he pulled Naruto closer to him and looked, the now frightened child, over before smirking. "Wwellll hhooow aaboout youuuu paayy yyoourr doooesss, eeh?" Naruto shook his head 'no' at the thought of what this man could do to him, even while drunk, he really wasn't in the mood for a beating today, but the man didn't see the boy shake his head as he led them to back ally far away from the slowly forming crowds. 

 

**(One drunken rape scene later, because I don't really like writing those kinds of things)**

 

 

The shinobi walked out of the ally a little after sunset, he fix his clothes, brushed off some of the dirt on his pants, and left without so much of a backwards glance at the boy who's innocence he just stole without a care in the world. Naruto lay on the ground feeling broken and dirty, his bruises were already starting to heal thank's to Kurama's chakra, even though they were healing quickly, Naruto knew it would be at least an hour or so before he could even stand straight up again without being in pain. Tears ran down his face like no tomorrow, he tried to get to a more comfortable position on the ground but a bolt of white hot pain shot through his whole body making him stop in his tracks. He didn't want to feel this way, he never wanted to feel this way, he felt weak, weaker than he'd ever felt before.

 

"Are you alright?" Asked a voice, Naruto looked up from his spot from the dirty floor, his eyes met the eyes of a little about his age with a pineapple style ponytail. The boy walked up to Naruto slowly as not to scare the blond more, the boy's eyes trailed over the blond's bruises, "what happened to you?"

 

Naruto wiped away some of his tears before talking in a horse voice, "nothing, I was just born at the wrong time," he said.

 

The boy looked Naruto over with sad eyes, he rubbed the back of his neck because he didn't know what else to say, "um, I can help, I mean if you want."

 

Naruto looked up to the boy, he had never had anyone offer to help him like this before now, "you don't want to help me," he said pushing himself off the ground, ignoring the pain.

 

The boy looked a little confused, "sure I do, why wouldn't I want to help someone that been hurt?"

 

The tears ran down his face again as Naruto looked away from the boy, "because I'm a monster." 

 

The boy widen his eyes as he looked at the blond in front of him, he took a few steps closer to the blond, causing said boy to back into the wall he was now leaning on. The pineapple head boy bent down look the blond in the eyes, smiled, "I don't think you look like a monster," he said.

 

Naruto looked at the boy in surprise, had he heard what he thought he just heard? Was there really a person that didn't think that he was a monster? "Yo-you don't think I-I'm a monster?" He asked shakily.

 

The boy shook his head, "nope," he grinned a wide grin, "a gril as pretty as you couldn't be a monster."

 

Naruto was stunned, not so much that the boy in front of him called him a girl, well maybe he was a little annoyed by it, but he was more focused on the fact that he got a complement from someone else. Suddenly a burst of roaring laughter was heard, it started the two kids as they looked all round for the source, the pineapple head boy stood straight up in a battle stance just in case he needed to fight. "Oh man, and here I was worrying my ass off about you, kit, but when I finally find you, you're getting hit on by another boy!" Suddenly a person jumped down from the roof and landed between the two kids, he was Kurama, said man looked between the two boys in front of him and chuckled, "well at least you found a friend, eh kit, and what's more, he thinks your a _girl_."

 

Naruto blushed, "hay, be quite, Kurama, it's not my fault that my hair is so long and curly," he said puffing up his cheeks.

 

Kurama was still giggling, "yeah, but even so, I think you would make a great girl," he said as he knelt down and gently picked the blond up. He looked at the healing bruises, it would most likely take all night to heal most if not all of them, he could feel himself burning with rage on the inside, but on the outside he smiled at the blond boy as he continued to tease him. "Maybe at your next birthday I'll tell everyone to get you girly stuff, a couple of ribbons and bows aught to do the trick," he said standing straight up as he held the blond, he turned to the other boy in the ally, "don't you think?" He smirked as he stared down at the other boy.

 

The pineapple head shook himself from his shock from the sight of the man, he slowly nodded, "y-y-yeah."

 

Kurama giggled, "see, even your little friend agrees."

 

Naruto folded his arm over his chest, "yeah whatever," he turned away from the fox man as said man let out a heartfelt laugh, "alright, alright, enough, can we just get home?"

 

"Sure kit, we'll-" Kurama was cut off when he felt something clap onto his leg, or rather  _somebody_ , he looked down at his leg to see pineapple head holding onto his leg for dear life, "uh."

 

"I-I-I know this is going to sound weird but," the looked up at Kurama and the blond, "can I please come with you, I don't want to go home."

 

Naruto looked down at the boy holding Kurama's leg hostage, he looked into those dark pools to only find a pleading desperation. He wasn't sure, for a second it felt drawn to the boy, like they were meant to find each other or something, it was an odd feeling to have, "why don't you want to go home?" He asked the boy still holding the fox man's leg.

 

"Because it doesn't feel like home," was the boy's answer with tears in his eyes.

 

Naruto and Kurama shared a look before Kurama nodded, "alright," he shifted Naruto so that he was leaning more on his shoulder as he picked the other boy up off the ground with his free arm. He held said boy under his arm like a sack of flour before taking one step back and jumping up onto the nearest roof, "here we go." He began running in a seemingly random direction at lightening speed, the boy with the pineapple hair just watched the world go blur by him as they ran until finally they stopped at a house. "Here we are, home sweet home."

 

"Wait, isn't this the 4th hokage's home?" Asked the yet to be named boy.

 

Naruto nodded, "yeah, it is" he said as they walked up to the door.

 

Kurama put the pineapple down so he could open the door, "what are we doing here?"

 

"This is where we live," Naruto said as they all walked into the house, "before you ask, yes, I am one of the 4th's kids." The boy stared at the bond in awe, "by the way my names Naruto, this is Kurama, what's your name?" 

 

"S-S-Shikamaru Nara," said the stunned Nara.

 

Naruto smiled, "it's very nice to meet you," suddenly three lit boys ran into the room asking were their brother had been, a shadow clone came in behind them, "okay everyone hang on, I'll like you guys to meet Shikamaru Nara, he's going to be our guessed for a while, okay?"

 

"Okay!" They all said in unison. 

 

"Nii-san, mom came home looking for you to see if you finished making the food for the party, she said all the clan head would be there," Neko said.

 

By now it the sky was just turning different shads of pink, purple and orange, Naruto sighed as Kurama held onto him, "what are you going to do kit, you can't move around like this, you need to rest."

 

Naruto looked to his clones, "how much chakra do you guys have left?"

 

"I think we've get enough to make a few dishes each, but not enough to make the main course, Boss," said one of the clones while the rest nodded.

 

"Hmm," Naruto thought.

 

"I could help, I've never cooked before or anything, but I can still do something," Shikamaru said.

 

"Alright, this is what I've come up with, since you say you don't know how to cook, you'll help with the directions and measurements," Naruto said to the Nara.

 

Shikamaru nodded at Naruto, "got it."

 

"Kurama, I would like you to make some shadow clones too, five is enough, then summon Hidi, she'll know what to do from there," Naruto said then changed his mind, "no wait make that at least ten clones and tell Hidi to do the same."

 

"Ten, huh? I could make more than that, you know, plus I over heard Kushina talking about decorations and all that junk," said Kurama.

 

"Decorations will be handled if you also summon Hinata along with Hati, they'll work the room while everyone else cooks the food and cleans," Naruto said coolly and Kurama nodded.

 

"What can we do Nii-san?" Menma asked as he bounced on his toes.

 

Naruto looked down at the triplets, he smiled, "Menma, Kuhaku, you two will be the taste testers, make sure everything taste good understand?"

 

The two children cheered, "what about me, Nii-san?" Neko asked feeling left out.

 

"You and I will keep an eye out for mom and dad to make sure they don't come home too soon, we'll also entertain the guest if they arrive a little early." Neko nodded, "alright, everyone knows what to do, lets get to it!"

 

After a few hours, Kushina and Minato walked through the door, Kushina was worrying about how the stuff for her party wasn't set up yet, she was also worried that Naruto wasn't home when she came to check on the food. After all, she did tell her friends that they would get the best food in all of Konoha tonight, she would be embarrassed things didn't go the way she planed, while Minato, still filled with hormones, was deathly worried about his missing child. They were so distracted by their own thoughts thay they failed to realize that the house had been decorated and there was a heavenly smell coming from all over the house, it wasn't until Naruto appeared with Shikamaru did they notice.

 

"Hay mom, dad, you guys better hurry up and get dressed before the guessed start coming over," Naruto said with a smile, his wounds healed enough that he could stand and ignore the rest of the pain he was still in.

 

"Souchi, when did you get home?" Kushina asked.

 

"A little after you guys left the house," he lied, "ah, by the way, do you mind if Shikamaru stay's with us for a while?"

 

Shikamaru stepped forward, he was not used to staying over at other peoples houses, "h-hello, Lord 4th, Lady Kushina, I hope it's not too much trouble for me to stay over, I-"

 

"None sense, you can stay for as long as you like," Kushina said patting the Nara on his head lightly, she turned to her husband, "come on Minato, lets get ready."

 

"Don't tell me what to do!" Minato said and he flashed away, Kushina sighed heavily mumbling something like 'here we go again', before walking over to their room where soft crying could be heard.

 

"What was that about?" Shikamaru asked.

 

"He's on his man period," Naruto said.

* * *

 

 

**2 months before Naruto runs away**

 

 

A month came and went in a flash (no puns please) and Naruto thought it was about time he asked the Nara why he still didn't want to go home even after a month. While Shikamaru was at the Namikaze house he had learned how to cook fairly well, he became fast friends with Neko, he was good friends with the other member's of the Namikaze family, but got along with Neko the best. When he asked why Shikamaru didn't want to go home, he found out that the young Nara was being abused by his mother, it was unbelievable, from that day on, Naruto and Shikamaru was stuck together like glue, there was never one without the other. They spend all their time together and because of this, Kurama took on another student, Shikamaru.

 

Yes, Kurama knew of the lazy nature of the Nara men, Shikamaru was still young so he wasn't as corrupted as the older boys in the clan. It was once said that a Nara shows their true lazy nature by the time they turn eight, Shikamaru was six, so there was still time to un-corrupt the 'Nara in training' as Kurama put it. They started with the same schedule that Naruto started off with, thankfully Hidi was there to make sure that Kurama didn't over work the little kiddies. Speaking of foxes, after spending 2 whole months getting to know Shikamaru and finding out all that he went through was, Naruto, Kurama, and Hidi didn't like the little Nara's parents all that much. It turns out that Shikamaru's mom and dad had been fighting over something for a while now, his father was distant and his mother was just a bit violent, she's so violent that she had 'accidentally' sent Shikamaru's father to the ER on a few occasions. But it was her most resent act that had made Shikamaru not want to go home, since she had sent her husband to the hospital so many times in this past year alone, Shikaku didn't want to go anywhere near her. Yoshino, Shikamaru's mother, want's another kid, and seeing as her husband wont touch her and she was defiantly not going to go to someone else to get what she wanted... I think you get a bit of what I'm saying, right? Anyways after finding that, Naruto told Shikamaru that there was no way he was going back to his house, Shikamaru nearly cried out in joy and hugged Naruto, thanking him endlessly. However, just because Naruto says he could stay, didn't mean that his mother was going to lose her 'spear baby maker' to anyone.

 

It was the end of the month, Yoshino thought that this would be enough time for her son to get over his fears of becoming a man, she had made sure to explain the finer details of sex and how a baby was made. Seeing it perfectly alright to tell all this to her  _six year old son_ , she thought, like other boys, he would have been grossed out about it for a while and then get curious as to how it all worked, but to her major dismay, he wasn't curious about it at all. The first time she uh did... IT... with her son, he looked like a deer in headlights, when she was done, got cleaned up to make dinner, then went up to his room to call him down, she found him shaking like a leaf in the back corner of his closet. She had rolled her eyes at him and told him that it wasn't half bad, in fact she complimented him on being so big at a young age, she then dragged him down stairs to have dinner with them since Shikaku had come home from the hospital earlier that day. She knew that her husband wasn't a fool, he could smell the sent just rolling off of his son like white on rice, that was why she sat Shikamaru right next to him with a smug smirk thinking that her husband would be a man and, well, man up. But sadly he left the house after dinner, Shikamaru ran away the next morning before she came to wake him up, so she just gave them both some time to 'cool off', Shikaku hadn't return home yet, she heard that he had been taking long missions since he left the house, most likely trying to avoid her.

 

Yoshino sighed,  _"oh well, at least I know where Shikamaru is, maybe by the time that lazy ass gets home, I'll be pregnant,"_ she thought with a smirk on her face as she walked up to the Namikaze compound, because it was as big as a compound. _"With all the kids that Kushina has, I won't be surprised if she has a little army of her own by the time Shikamaru graduates the academy, she's so lucky,"_ she knocked on the door and put on a bright smile. 

 

Kushina opened the door, she looked a little tired, of course she does, she just came back from a month long mission," Yoshi, what's up?" Said the tomato head.

 

"Oh nothing much, I was just here to see if Shikamaru was here," said Yoshino sweetly.

 

Kushina looked confused, "Shikamaru? I thought he already went home?"

 

Yoshino also looked confused, though on the inside she was a little made  _"no, I saw him here just last week, I even spoke to him, where could he have gone?"_ She thought, she said, "no, I haven't seen him in a month."

 

**Flashback**

 

Yoshino was going to the Namikaze house to give her report, why? Because Kushina had convinced Minato to have another baby even though he told her that this child woun't be a Uzumaki, Kushina didn't like that and poor Minato had to make a seal that would include some of his wife DNA into their next child.This made it a little complicated to move around like he did when he was having the triplets because the seal needed time to welled the three (yes I said three) DNA's together, this was oddly painful, so much so that he couldn't leave his bed for a while. Because he couldn't move, his ninja had the pleasure of coming into his home to give their report, and maybe play with the younger kids of the Namikaze house hold, Minato didn't mind this because it ment that he could get some more sleep with out Minma bursting in and asking to play evey two minutes.  

 

But enough about that, Yoshino was already at the door, "here goes..." she knocked on the door and Ryu answered, "I'm here to give my report to the Hokage," she said while the red headed boy nodded and let her in. She gave her report to the now three month pregnant Minato, as she was leaving she heard her son's voice coming from the living room she just past, she went back to take a look just as three kids ran out of the room playing some game.

 

Shikamaru came out a little while after them with a smile on his face, a smile that Yoshino hadn't seen since the child was at least two or three years of age. He stopped dead in his tracks when he caught sight of her, "wha-wha-what are you d-doing here?" He asked shakily, Yoshino was a bit hurt by this but it wasn't for too long, she took a step closer to him but he jumped back, landing almost half way down the hallway they were in, Yoshino frowned, "stay back."

 

"Shikamaru, I understand that you're upset and all, but just think, you'll have a little brother or sister soon, wouldn't that be nice?" She smiled sweetly at him, "don't you want to be a big brother like your friend?"

 

Shikamaru looked down for a few minute, Yoshino saw this and mentally smirked, she thought she had him, "I do, I would like to be a big brother." Yoshino's mental smirk grow into a grin as she went to take a step closer to her son, but his next words stopped her half way, "but I don't want it to happen this way," Shikamaru balled up his fist and looked to his mother down the hall from him. "I want to be a big brother, I don't know if I'll be good at it or not, but I do know that when that time comes, I don't want to look at my little sibling and think that they're also my son or daughter," he screwed up his face in anger, "that gross, no that's just just plain nasty, and you should be ashamed of yourself for even thinking that I would would want to do  _that_ with you ever again."

 

Yoshino mentally growled, but she outwardly smirked, "fine, you're not ready now, but you will be soon, I'll come back for you then." She turned back towards the door and started walking away, "see you when you get home,  _honey,_ " then she left the house without looking back to see her shaking son.

 

**Flashback end**

 

Yoshino looked at her friend, "do you know where my son went?" 

 

Kushina thought for a moment, "hmm, the last time I saw them, they said they were just heading out to play in the park for a while and then Naruto was going to drop him off when he was done." The tomato nodded her head, "yeah, but that was since this morning, have you checked the park?"

 

Yoshino shook her head, "no, but I will do that now, thank so much Kushina, you've been a great help," she said as she started walking away.

 

"Any time, Yoshi," Kushina said and closed the door to go back to sleep.

 

Meanwhile, Yoshino checked all the parks in the village since Kushina didn't say which park they went to, she also checked all around town and the training grounds, but she didn't know that Shikamaru  _and_ Naruto weren't even in the village anymore. In fact, right now, Shikamaru, Neko, Naruto, and Kurama were all in Trickster Ally training and hidding away from the evil claws of Yoshino.

* * *

 

 

**1 day before Naruto runs away**

 

A full month had past by for the Namikaze family, Yoshino had taken a brake from looking for her son, It was the day before Kyuubi attack anniversary plus the birthday of Narumi and Naruto, although the latter didn't even cross everyone's mind. It was on this day, the day before his birth, that Naruto, Shikamaru, Neko, and Kurama all came back to the village via revers summoning. With them was Kibo, he had been living in Trickster Ally a until now, Hati had come to Naruto and Kibo a week after returning from the surprise birthday party for said blond, Hati wanted to have the chance to rain Kibo as his student while Kurama trained Shikamaru and Naruto, and Hidi taught Neko how to do other little things and told him storys while his big brother trained. It was also during this time that Shikamaru met a little fox like with dark green eyes, the same age and size as Kibo, this new green eyed fox got along great with Shikamaru until one day after training extra hard, Shikamaru fell down from exhaustion and was asleep for nearly two days. The green eyed fox stayed with Shikamaru through out that time, when the boy woke up due to a really bad nightmare about his mom, which he had been having frequently since he last saw her, and started to cry his eyes out not knowing that he was being watched.

 

The little green eyed fox was worried about his little friend, much like what Kibo did with Naruto, the little fox put his tail to the crying boy's forehead and started to glow. His fur glowed a bright red, but this time the fox's fur turned a orange-y yellow, and it was Shikamaru's eyes that changed color this time, not only that but his hair got a bit longer and it lost it spikiness, sort of. Kurama, when he saw this happen (because he was also in the room at the time), explained what this ment, he told him about the bonding and everything, then Shikamaru signed the fox contract. Also, Shikamaru's birthday was a little before Naruto's (I don't remember when Shikamaru's birthday is, but this is my story so deal with it if it's wrong), this meant another all night birthday party the same as Naruto's party. They even slept in a grate big old fox pail again and had twice the amount of cake left over, Shikamaru quickly shared in Naruto's love for the cake, along with Neko, and also joined in on Naruto's baking hobby, they made  _the best_ cakes together. Shikamaru got pretty much the same gifts that Naruto got, but the sealing bag and clothes he got were all different shades of orange and yellow, while Shikamaru's bag and clothes were different shads of green and some blues. Neko turned two around this time to they had two parties in one month almost back to back, getting the same presents as his brothers, but without the jutsu books and scrolls, twice as much toys, and everything was in different shades of orange, green, and red since everyone could tell how much he wanted to be like his brothers, Naruto and Shikamaru. Neko wanted to know when he was going to get his own little fox, Kurama, seeing a quick pattern developing, just told the whiskered two year old he would get one when he got older. The young boy cheered, happy that he was going to be like his Nii-san's, because he saw Shikamaru as his second big brother, he didn't realized the other siblings of the Namikaze Uzumaki name were also his brothers and sisters because they didn't spend any real time with him.

 

Now Naruto was standing next Shikamaru, they both had their respective fox familiars on their heads, Kibo on Naruto's head and the now orange green eyed fox, being name Jin by Shikamaru. Kurama stood behind his two students with a proud smile on his face as he looked at them as he held Neko on his shoulders, the two boys had gotten stronger from when they left and it made Kurama very happy that he was the one to get them to this point. "Okay Neko, down you go buddy, I've got to get back into the seal," said the fox-man as he put Neko down between Naruto and Shikamaru.

 

"Aww, how come you always gotta be in that stupid seal thing anyways Papa?" Neko asked, because Kurama was more of a father to the boy than his own father, when ever Kurama wasn't training the other two, he would play with Neko with and without Hidi there.

 

"Because, Neko, if Papa's chakra was sensed by the other villagers while he's outside, they'll do bad things to him," Naruto said to his little brother.

 

"Why, what kinda bad things would they do?" Asked the two year old.

 

"Well, they'll hurt him really bad, or send him away to a real dark place that super scary, okay?" Shikamaru chimed in, because he saw Neko as the little brother that he never had, "so that's why he has to get into the seal, but don't worry, he'll only need to be in their for a little while."

 

"How little?" Neko asked with a shin in his eyes.

 

"Just until tomorrow," Kurama said as he did the required hand signs to go back into the seal,  **"after tomorrow, we can kiss this place goodbye for a long time, okay Neko?"**

 

 **"** Okay, Papa," Neko said then yawned, "can we go back to that house now, I'm tired," Naruto nodded and lefted Neko onto his back as they headed for the Namikaze compound.

 

Back in Trickster Ally, Hidi, Kurama, and Shikamaru came up with a way for everyone to be apart of the mind link and Naruto, Kibo, and the fox-man shared. Naruto was the one to figure out a way to make the seal work, while Hidi, with some help from Hati, applied the new seal onto Naruto, Kibo, Shikamaru, Jin, and Neko, they also redid the seal that contained Kurama within Naruto, very carefully, so that if the others wanted, they could enter the mindscape with Naruto. The five, Kurama being inside Naruto again, made it to and inside of the Namikaze home and they all went to Naruto's room, it was still early morning so the whole house was still asleep at this point, which made it easy to slip in and out with out a sound. 

 

"Hay, it's your birthday tomorrow, how are we going to do this?" Shikamaru asked Naruto as he set Neko down to sit on his bed, Naruto sat next to the tired boy while Shikamaru took up the other side. Jin and Kibo jumped down from their head to sit on their lap, the for of them looking towards Naruto, knowing that he had been planing this day out since they left for Trickster Ally, and since Trickster Ally was on a slower-ish time, Naruto had plenty of time.

 

"Well before I left, I made a few shadow clones of myself to watch the guards shift change since we've been gone. When we came back just now, they dispelled and I got the info, we've got about a thirty minute window to get throw the gate or over the wall. There maybe a chance we'll run into ANBU once we're outside, knowing Donzo, I wouldn't put it past him to send a team of his ROOT soldiers to try to catch me, forcing me to become his weapon. It would take a lesser man up to an hour to get caught up in one of their traps, an untrained man would be taken within minutes of leaving," Naruto said, Shikamaru blushed, he loved it when Naruto showed how smart he was.

 

"Nii-san, why does that meanie want you to be a weapon? Is it cuz' of Papa?" Neko asked.

 

Naruto nodded, "that's right otouto, he thinks Papa is just a wild animal without a brain that needs to be controlled by him." 

 

Neko gasped then puffed up his cheeks making the others chuckle at his cuteness, "that meanie, we I get older, I'm going to get really strong so I can beat his butt! Believe it!"(sorry I had to, it was just so cute I couldn't resist) Neko said and punched the air.

 

No one could keep a straight face after that outburst, not even Kurama could keep himself from rolling around on the floor of his cell, laughing his ass off. "Alright, Neko, settle down, you don't want to wake the Hokage and his wife, right?" Neko realized that he was being to loud and clamped his hands over this mouth with a muffled 'sorry' to his brother. "It's okay, just keep it down," he got a muffed 'okay' before he continued with a serious face.

 

"I've been thinking, when a kid runs away, they don't know jack about the world out side their village unless it's the small stuff you learn in class or you read in books. Teachers in the village you live in don't tell you anything detailed about another village unless it was a village they either invaded or attacked (huh, kinda like american schools). But, if we did run away, where would we run to?"

 

Shikamaru thought for a moment, "well since we're not in the academy, no one would expect us to know all much about the other villages since kids our age don't think about actually running away and then plan how to do it." Naruto nodded and motioned for him to continue, though, he had an idea of where this was going, "they also wouldn't expect us to have been very well trained in stealth and covering our tracks to the extent that Kurama sensei and Hati sensei taught us." He then snapped his fingers as a light went off in his head, "they also wouldn't wouldn't expect us to know how to do a successful shadow clone jutsu... Naruto you're a genius!"

 

Naruto chuckled at that, he was happy tat he put the silence seal on his room before he left, "exactly, now since they didn't expect us to know all these things, we'll have an easier time getting away and avoiding traps. Once we make it past the guards and the traps, we just need to keep out of sight of the ROOT ANBU who would want to come after me."

 

"Whoa, nice thinking Naruto, but where will we go after we leave?" Shikamaru asked, "Kiri is in a civil war, from what I gathered, it's a bloodline purge or something. Then Iwa hates the 4th hokage, if anyone was to check your blood or something, they'll know who you both are and would want to take revenge on Konoha through you or Neko, or both. Suna's allied with Konoha, so they could just hand us over once they find out we're there. Kumo had tried to steal that Hyuuga girl once, Hinata I think her name was, and then tried to come back for her sister last year, not to mention they almost too your mom too. If they had successes in their plans, we wouldn't even be talking right now."

 

 **"The Nara's right, kit, we've got some shitty options to pick from,"** they heard Kurama speak through their minds.

 

Neko raised his hand as if he was in class, "what's a bloodline purge?"

 

"It's when people with special abilities get killed," Shikamaru said.

 

"Oh...why?" Neko looked up to Shikamaru.

 

Said boy could only shrug his shoulders, "sometime the people there don't like people with bloodlines, so they kill them."

 

"Neko, don't worry, we wont be going there unless we need to, okay?" Naruto said, Neko nodded his head but was still confused about the purge thing, "alright, as Shikamaru had said, Kiri is at war with itself and we don't really have a whole lot of options, so..." Naruto hopped off the bed, went over to his desk draw and took out a map of the elemental nations. "I say we go to Suna first."

 

"What?! Naruto, didn't you hear me? They're alli-"

 

"I know Shika, but I've asked some of the battle ready foxes to go scout out the villages to see what they were like on the inside. They came back yesterday with some news that might surprise you," Naruto said walking back to his seat on the bed.

 

"What news would that be? Is it that they're not allied with the presumably strong leaf village after all?" Shikamaru said sarcastically.

 

Naruto shook his head, "no, actually, from what I hear, they've got a boy with red hair there who can control sand and seems to be an out cast in his own village. They think that he might have Kurama's younger brother inside him."

 

 **"What, Shukakua got sealed away too? Well with the way he acted most of the time, I knew it would happen eventually,"** Kurama said.

 

Shikamaru sighed, "I get it now," he looked at Naruto, "you want to save him don't you?" He got a nodded, "alright, well I guess I'll go along with it, but how will we get in and would the kid want to leave the village, even though he's an out cast?"

 

Naruto deadpanned, "well duh, from the reports I got, he's going to want to come with us without us even having to ask."

 

Shikamaru put up his hands in defense before both of them sighed, "then were will we go?"

 

Naruto debated with himself for a moment before looking Shikamaru in the eyes, "Kumo," Shika opened his mouth to protest, "ah, ah, ah, hear me out first, okay?" Shika closed his mouth and folded his arms, motioning the bond to talk on, "so I know that Kumo had tried to take my mom, and two Hyuuga's in the past, but did you notice that all the once they tired to take were women?" Shika thought about it then nodded with a 'so', "think, a woman with a kekki genki would have no problem passing on strong bloodlines to their kids, right?"

 

Shika nodded, "yeah but so could a man, what's the point?"

 

"Oh boy, I think Kurama's un-corrupting method has slowed down you're brain some," Naruto sghed dramatically, "looks like I'll have to give you my own training once we hit the road. Shika paled, he knew Naruto was starting to take after Kurama in training, the problem was he didn't know how much, Kurama just laughed at the Nara's misfortune. "Listen, what I'm saying is that if they were to actually get Hinata or Hanabi to the village and make them pregnant in the future, all they would need to do is brainwash them at a young age so they would think that they always lived in Kumo. Or, lock them up with guards to watch them until they gave birth, then kill them after if they don't still don't want to serve Kumo, after that they could rais the child to be a Kumo ninja in the future, the second option would work in their favor because all they would have to do is tell the child that their mother was a Kumo ninja that died at the hands of a Konoha ninja. I hate to admit it but that would have been a good plan, even if it is disgusting."

 

Shikamaru nodded, getting the mental image and shuddered, that would have been an effect plan, "but why Kumo? You, the last time I checked, don't have a bloodline and you made it very clear that you're not a girl in any other way than looks"

 

Naruto threw up his hands, "why does every one think I'm a girl?"

 

 **"I think it has something to do with your father's genes mixing with your mother's"** yawn Kurama.

 

"My father's genes, you mean the ability to have a baby even though he's a man, that gene?" Asked Naruto.

 

**"Uh huh, yeah, but I'll tell you about that next chapter."**

 

"Wait, chapter? What are y-" but Shika was cut off.

 

**"Never mind, just continue with the plan and go to bed, the suns coming up and you both need to rest."**

 

"Uuuuh ookaaay," Naruto then shook himself from the suspicion of Kurama, "anyways, we're leaving for Suna tomorrow, we'll stop at one of the boarder villages for anymore supplies we'll need to get in and out of Suna with the boy, uh, I forgot him name, but we'll know him when we see him. We'll pass through Rain (I forgot what they called it in the sub version) Country to get to Wind from Wind we'll need to be careful passing between the boarders of Earth and Fire Country," he said as they looked at the map.

 

"Hm, we should make it a point to avoid passing trough Oto because I haven't heard anything good come from that place at all," said Shikamaru.

 

Naruto nodded, "you're right, I've asked Hinata (not Hyuuga, one of the fox summons is named Hinata but she hasn't come up yet) to go scout the place and she nearly escaped that snake pedo in one peace. So Rice Country is a red flag, although once we reach here *points to a spot my Rice on the map* we'll need a boat to get here *slides finger across map and points to Kumo* then we'll need to somehow see the Rikage. But I'm going to guess that we'll need to be very careful with what we say, if they could steal kids for their bloodline limit, who knows what they could do with you with your shadow technique, or me being related to the 4th hokage and a jinuriki."

 

Shikamaru leaned back, "your forgetting, once we get the kid from Suna, we'll have sand ninja on our ass from there to Kumo, if what you've said about him is true and the research I put in on Kumo. Well I don't think that we'll need to do much convincing when we show up with a shadow bloodline user, the hokage's youngest son, and  _two_ jinuriki, the rikage would have to be a blind bat not to let us join." Far away a musical-ed man with dark green eyes sneezed, "however, its when we get there that we'll need to really start thinking about our careers as ninjas, since you're turning seven tomorrow, we've got about a whole 'nother until we can join the academy here. I don't know what it the age is to join in Kumo, but we should also see if we can't at least learn the basics before we get to where we're going."

 

"Now that's the Shika I know, smart and reliable," Naruto gave the other boy a fox grin, which caused said boy to blush a shad of red from the compliment, he never got complements like this before. "Alright it's bed time...looks like Neko already beat us to it," he chuckled. He slipped the sleeping two year old's shoes off his feet before going to change into his pajamas, Shikamaru followed suit, soon they were both in a one peace, zip up, footless pajamas (like footy pajames, but without the foot) that they got from Hidi on each of their birthdays. Shikamaru's pj's were a navy blue with light green stars all over it, Naruto's was an orange with yellow suns all over it, Hidi even added hoods to their pj's saying it just looked too cute not to, then they all went to bed.

* * *

 

 

**The day Naruto ran away**

 

It was finally the day that Naruto turned seven years old, you would think that this sweet little boy would get happy birthday wishes from his sisters, brothers, and parents, but nope. Not even a simple good morning was said to him, or Shikamaru, or Neko, but Kibo and Jin got scratched behind the ear and petted by nearly... oh who am I kidding, they got love from everyone! "Dude that's so wrong on so many levels, I just can't even," Naruto said as he shuffled into the kitchen to make himself, Shikamaru, and Neko something to eat.

 

"How troublesome," Shikamaru yawned as he held a still sleeping Neko and followed the blond into the kitchen.

 

They had stayed up late last night going over the plan again, this time Neko stayed awake for the whole thing, from start to finish. He was so excited to be going with his Nii-san's to another place outside the village that he just couldn't get to sleep, now he was so tried from being up all night that he couldn't keep his eyes open. Naruto and Shikamaru made him swear not to tell a soul about their plans, not that he would, he loved his nii-sans too much to hurt them in that way. Now that they were in the kitchen, Naruto made a few shadow clones to make his family's breakfast, because they had burst into his room almost at the crack of dawn with food request for the birthday party that night, although Naruto took note that they only called it  _Narumi's party_ he didn't let it bother him. Speaking of Narumi, here she comes now.

 

"NARUTO!!" Narumi yelled running up and down the halls before smashing the poor door into the poor wall, and left a slight crack there.

 

Naruto gave a heavy sigh at this twin, "what is it, Narumi?" He said with a monotone voice as Shikamaru rolled his as and shifted the now started awake Neko on his hip,  _"haven't even bee in the kitchen for more than a minute but she comes in here to demand shit?"_

 

Narumi bounced into the room happily, "Naruto, it's my birthday today, aren't ya gonna wish me happy birthday?" She sang as she bounced around her brothers and their friend, "we've got to have the absolute best food, and the cake just has- *dramatic gasp* where'd you get those super cute pj's!" She all but yelled at the end after she stopped in front of the trio and gestured to their sleep wear, Shikamaru was wearing a identical version of the footless pajames he wore the day before, but this one was given to him by Hati, while Hidi sewed a hood with cat ears and a tail on the bottom, and it was in the color of a light green. Naruto had on the same thing, but his was bright yellow with fox ears and a tail, and Neko mirrored his brothers outfits but his pj's was in the style of a red and orange cow, on their feet were fluffy slip-on slippers (the ones with the back) in the style of their respective pj animals. Narumi was jelly because her pj's were plain pink without a hood, ears, or tail, "where'd you get those, I want one," she pouted.

 

Naruto didn't even look down at his clothes, "oh these, they were a gift from a friend, why?"

 

Narumi held out her hands, "give me."

 

Shikamaru looked at Naruto before stepping up, "uh, maybe you didn't hear him, he said we got these as a gift, you know, for our birthday."

 

Narumi shook her head, "so, it's  _my_ birthday and  _I_ want it, so give it."

 

Naruto blinked at his twin for a moment, "Shika, put Neko down and help me make breakfast please," he said before turning away from his sister, Shikamaru did as told and let Neko stand on his own two feet.

 

They were getting the stuff out to make their own breakfast while the clones were just almost done making the food for the rest of the family  _"man I love shadow clones,"_ thought the blond as he started setting everything down on the counter. Meanwhile, Narumi was seething because she didn't get what she wanted, she ran up to her brother, getting ready to rip the thing off his body, when a pare of shadow hands came out from no where and held her in place (yeah that's right, Shika know's that jutsu, what do you think he's been studying since he'd been gone?).

 

"Shadow Hands Jutsu, complete," Shikamaru, or should I say Shadow clone Shikamaru, said (he made it when she wasn't looking).

 

"What, hay, let go of me!" Narumi said.

 

"Just let her go, Shika, she's not worth the trouble," Naruto said in a monotone voice as he made them breakfast, by now all the Naruto clones were done make breakfast for the family and was just getting them on serving plates, because they're fast like that.

 

Shikamaru let go of the spoiled brat and went to help Naruto make the food, along with his Shika clone, not paying any mind to Narumi. Narumi was angry because she didn't get her way and started yelling orders to give her the pj's or else. Already knowing what 'or else' meant from Narumi, they kept ignoring her as they started to finish making their own food and the clones (the Naruto ones) delivered breakfast to the Namikaze family. They were nearly done when Narumi started crying, Neko tugged on Shika's pants leg, who got the message and picked the boy up while Naruto and the Shika clone packed away the food in under a second and they all shushinned outta their with out Narumi noticing and before Minato and the others rushed in asking what was wrong. "Naruto hit me and wouldn't be nice to me," she lied and continued to cry, whether it was fake or not, no one could really tell, well Naruto, Shika, and Neko could, but no one would believe them.

 

Kushina got angry that someone would dare hurt her child to the point that she would start crying, Minato was disappointed his son would 'hurt' his baby girl, and the others just got mad at their brother and tried to comfort her. However, there were two that didn't go to comfort their beloved sibling, those two were Menma and Kohaku, they were the other two that could tell when Narumi's tears were fake or not, and they both knew that she was lying on their big brother. They never understood why their parents couldn't see it, even when she lied to their face after watching her push down Naruto because he didn't make the cake she wanted for her stupid to party two months ago before he left. Yes they knew he was gone because they knew the difference between their mom's cooking, even if she got cooking lessons from Naruto, and Naruto's cooking.

 

When Narumi pushed down Naruto for not making her favorite cake, Minato and Kushina were watching the whole time. That was the time that Naruto had realized he had basically become their servant, he couldn't take it anymore and decided to bush back, so he walked away telling her to make her own damn cake next time. Kushina ran up to him and slapped him across the face for cursing in front of his 'dear sister', Naruto was shocked to say the least, that was the day that Narumi learned that she had to get her brother in trouble by their parents so she could get whatever she wanted. That was also the day that Menma and Kohaku lost all respect for their older sister and played with Naruto, Shika, and Neko more, even found out and went to Trickster Ally with them once.Now they were watching their sister get what she wanted again... or is she?"

 

Minato was looking around the room with Kushina to see where their son was hiding, they were planing on giving him a spanking for what he did, and if they found out that Shikamaru had a hand in it too, the same went for him.Yet they didn't find him in the kitchen, so they went up to his room, he wasn't there. Not in the living room, dinning room, attic, basement, bathroom, M.J.'s room, Shio's room, Ryu's room, the triplets room, the gets rooms, back OR front yard, Minato was furious because all this moving around wasn't sitting right him being pregnant again, with twins this time. "Where the hell is he!" Roared the pregnant Namikaze male, "he should be here to take his punishment like a man!"

 

"Does this mean we have to cancel the party because Naruto isn't here to make the food and cake?" Asked Narumi, seemingly over the whole thing already and was more worried about her party now.

 

Kushina bent down to put her hand on her daughters shoulder, "don't worry sweetheart, we'll find him and he'll make you the beast birthday cake of all time, okay?" Narumi cheered 'yay' and started jumping around the place like never before, Kushina and Minato smiled, until a thought entered their mind, "has anyone seen Menma and Kohaku?"

 

Unbeknownst to the Namikaze family, during their comforting of Narumi and the later search for Naruto, the two said children had been led away to the forest by and orange and a gold fox. The four entered the forest and found their way over to a seal on a rock, when they all touched the seal, they disappeared in a bright flash of orange lightening. Half way across the village a similar flash of lightening appeared a minute later, Menma, Kibo, Kohaku, and Jin stood there looking around before they started walking over to a house in the distance. This house was actually the old Namikaze compound was before all the previous Namikaze's were whipped out, except for Minato he was at a friend's house that night. They went inside the house and was greeted by Naruto and Neko, "hay, you guys ready to eat?" Naruto asked the newcomers who nodded, they went to eat and stayed at the compound until night fall and it was a few house before the party, and their escape. Before leaving to go back 'home' Naruto, Shika, and Kurama decided that they wanted to take Menma and Kohaku with them because Kurama said that he saw a potential in them that he didn't think Minato or Kushina could un-lock in them. Shika wasn't sure if the plan would work with all of triplets coming along, but then another idea popped into his head, he told Naruto and Kurama what he was thinking and they agreed, the plan would work now with the new changes. Now they just had to get back to the party and find that missing element in their new escape plan. 

* * *

 

All seven boys, including the foxes, made it back to the party before it even started. They got to the kitchen and unseal all the food they had spent all day making, with some help from the triplets, thanks to the scroll the food was still nice and pipping hot, Naruto and Shikamaru made a few dozen clones each, they all transformed themselves to look like they were wearing butlers uniforms. The clones took the food and started prepping for the party while the real Naruto and Shika went upstairs to help the triplets get ready for the party and then dress themselves, the party was in full swing by the time they all came down again. All the clan heads were there to celebrate  _Narumi's birthday_ an the defeat of the Kyuubi, no one thought it strange to see a bunch of seven year olds wearing butler garbs serving food to the guest, no they were all to busy wishing Narumi a happy birthday. This made it perfect for the plan to work, Naruto and Shika watched from the second floor as the clan head and other guest walked in with their families.

 

Inoichi Yamanaka with his wife and daughter, Ino Yamanaka, nope.

 

Choza Akamichi with his wife and son, Choji Akamichi, nope.

 

Fugaku Ushiha with his wife, Mikoto Uchiha, and their sons, Itachi and Sasuke Uchiha, definitely not.

 

Shibi Abarami with his wife and son, Shino Abarami, no but nice shades.

 

Shikaku Nara with his evil wife, Yoshino Nara, minus their son, Shikamaru Nara, still no.

 

Tsumi Inuzuka with her daughter and son, Hana and Kiba Inuzuka, nope.

 

Mito Gui with his adoptive son and daughter, Rock Lee and TenTen, no but are you sure that boy is adopted?

 

Kurinai Yuhi with Asuma Sarutobi and 3rd hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, no.

 

Hiashi Hyuuga with his wife, Himoto Hyuuga, with their nephew, Neji Hyuuga and their two daughter, Hanabi and Hinata Hyuuga. BINGO!

 

Naruto and Shikamaru smirked  as they left the balcony with their foxes and the triplets following close behind, "does every one know the plan?" the triplets nodded, they knew what they were about to do was risky and they would get into a lot of trouble for if it failed, but Kohaku and Menma was tired of living with their in the compound. Don't get them wrong, they had fun with their family, tons of fun. But up until they started questioning their parents on why Narumi always got her way even when they knew she was wrong, that was when their parents started treating them like they were the ones doing something wrong. They would yell at them for no reason, they would his them for the littlest thing, or nothing at all, Narumi wasn't making it any better either. Narumi liked to play pranks, eve though Kohaku and Menma liked pranking too, she would always make a big mess doing pranks that a two year old couldn't do, then blame it all on them, even when they weren't even in the house and their parents would eat up the lie like they ate up Naruto's good food. It made them all sick thinking that Narumi had her parents bent around her finger like she was the queen, it made Naruto so made, all the bad things she would and never got in trouble for it. But enough about that, they had a plan to complete.

 

The plan was simple, Naruto, Shikamaru, Kohaku, Menma, Neko, Jin, and Kibo went around the party making sure that they were seen there. They stayed away from the rest of the Namikaze's, especially the birthday girl, and worked the room. They gathered information on the party goers were, making sure they had fun, they interacted with the kids a little and made sure they stayed out of the way of the adults, mostly Kushina and Yoshino who were like head hunter after Shikamaru and Naruto. But for different reasons and didn't know that the other were doing the same thing, Shikaku stayed far away from his wife through out the whole party. It was finally time for the birthday girl to open her presents, they took this chance to sneak Hinata away from the crowd to talk to the Hyuuga.

 

Hinata, they had found her being bullied by a bunch of boys one day after Shikamaru had started living with the Namikaze's, they obviously saved her life because some of those boys had brought knives for 'fun'. "Hinata, we're busting out of here tonight, you want come?" Naruto asked the shy girl.

 

The Hyuuba was a little confused, "you mean you're really leaving the village?" She asked already knowing that they had wanted to leave before they went away to train, Shika nodded, "but if I go with you, wouldn't I be a burden?"

 

The shook their head, "no, we want you to come, we know what your father does to you at night when no one is looking," Shika said with a bit of anger in his voice remember the bruises they saw on her body each time it happened. Sometime she couldn't even walk to the park to meet them after those... incidents, each time it seemed to get worse.

 

Hinata had tears in her eyes, "h-h-hhow-w d-did yo-ou know?" She asked in feared, every time her father hit her, she wondered why, but it was when he started to _touch_ her was when it all sunk in, she was nothing to her father, not even a person with her own name. A name  _he_ gave her.

 

"We know because we saw the bruises," said Naruto taking her arm and pushing up her sleeves to reveal large red circles that that differed in size and color all along her arm. "Tell me that you don't want to get away from this."

 

The tears fell, it was just the three of them in an empty hallway away from the noise of the party, they were on the second floor but they could still hear the music playing under their feet, so she let her tears run free. They held held her as she cried, she managed to calm herself down a bit to talk clearly, "I-I want to go, I want to run far, far away from this place and never come back," she said between he sobs.

 

"We know, that's why we need you to come with us," Shikamaru said rubbing her back soothingly.

 

Hinata nodded her head, "I will go with you," she said.

 

They both nodded, "good, we don't really have time to go get your things packed, so you can borrow some of our clothes until we can get you your own, but for now we need to get my brothers and head out. Naruto looked out, "we'll be reaching the thirty minute window in an hour so we need to hurry, do you know how to jump from trees and control basic chakra yet?"

 

Hinata chuckled, "I wouldn't be a Hyuuga if I didn't," she said with a soft smile.

 

"Good, we'll get the trio and head out in two," Naruto said as they started to head back down to the party, "Shika, you've got Neko, Hinata, you can carry Kohaku, and I'll carry Menma."

 

"Right, let's make sure not to let anyone catch us on the way out the door, it would be such a drag to be caught so soon," said Shika.

* * *

 

The plan worked pretty well, they went down to the party and scoped up the child they were going to carry out the gate. No one noticed them because they were all too busy watching Narumi open up presents from a large pile on the gift table, said table was full that the fits were stacked up on the ground as well. They were only caught once as they were leaving the house, it was by Shikaku, but he wasn't about to turn them in, he did have a few words with his son, "dad?" Shika asked his father as they watched him come from the shadows that covered the outside of the house as it was night now.

 

"Son, I know that your mother hurt you really bad and I wasn't there to stop it, for that I am truly sorry," Shikaku said lowering his head in shame. 

 

"It's not your fault dad, she's just crazy, I don't blame you for it," Shika said with a smile.

 

"But you should, I wasn't there for you when I should have been," Shikaku rased his head, the saw the shine of tears in his eyes.

 

Shika went up to his father and placed a hand on his arm, "don't worry dad, no matter what you do, I could never blame... I grew up watching you back and wanted to follow you, that's how I learned how to walk (wonder where I got that from)." Shikaku fell to his knees and hugged his son.

 

"Thank you," Shikaku said before letting his son go, "before you guys go, I must at least give you all this," he handed his son a scroll. "This is all the money that I've been saving up to give to you one day, Shikamaru, I never thought that I would give it now, but you need it if you and your friends are going out on your own. I've been saving it since you were born, take it, please, it's the least I can do to repent for my actions," Shikamaru knew he couldn't get into an argument about taking money that they would need while on the run, so he took the scroll and thanked his father. "One more thing, if you're going out the south gate, there some ANBU ther, they looked like they're waiting for someone. I also saw a few more hanging around the shadows by the other gates, but, if you head to this spot *hands Shika a map* there should be a hole big and hidden enough so you can get out without being spotted."

 

"Whoa, thanks Mr. Nara," Naruto said with a great smile.

 

"Yea dad, this really helps," Shika said picking up Neko after putting away the items, "I'll never forget this moment, ever."

 

Shikaku had tears in his eyes again, he shook his head, "just try not to get caught on the way out, live a full life, and maybe make me a couple of grand-kids I can spoil one day and then we'll be even, okay?"

 

Shikamaru chuckled, "I can do the first two, not too sure about the third."

 

Shikaku chuckled at that, "well I tired..." a tear rolled down his cheek and whipped it away, "goodbye son."

 

Shika nodded with a small smile, "bye, dad." 

 

After that, Naruto, Hinata, and Shika all ran to the spot on the map they got from Shikaku with one triplet each on their backs. They got to the spot, looking around it first looked like a regular clearing, but once you once you pull back the bushes my the wall, there was a hole big enough to fit a large dog. Or a small children. One by one they crawled through the hole, Naruto went first to make sure it was safe is was safe for the others, when that was confirmed, they all went through the hole to the other side. It was clear out, the clouds blocked out the light of the moon as all six children climb out of the hole, they made a run for it once out and jumped from branch to branch once they hit the tree line. They went at full speed, not stopping until they hit the boarder of Fire Country, they were a little tired when they got there but decided to push forward to meet the boarder. It was a few hours past midnight when they stumbled onto a town on the boarder Fire and Wind Country, they took a few hours to rest up, the triplets were sleepy but they refused to sleep until they made it into Wind Country. Naruto sent a few clones into the town they found transformed as ninjas and civilians to by a few things for the rest of their trip Wind while the rest were on look out as they Hinata, Shika, and Naruto rested. About an hour later, the clones came back with food, weapons, some clothes for Hinata, water, and soldier pills, Naruto put it all into his sealing bag he and Shika brought, but did take one soldier pill each to get back on their feet. They picked up their passengers and left the area after covering their tracks like Kurama showed them how to, they were half half way to Suna by the time the broke the horizon.

 

 


	7. Gaara and Haku

"Hay, Naru, is that the kid we're going to get?"

 

"Yeah, Shika, that's him, Hime you want to go first?"

 

"Well, I might as well, the worst that could happen would be him not wanting to be our friend."

 

"Hime's right, what if he doesn't trust us enough right away and runs away to tell someone, then our plan goes up in smoke, Naru."

 

"Hu.... by the way, when did we come up with these nicknames anyways?"

 

"You don't know *Naru shakes head 'no'* well neither do I, now can we focus please?"

 

"Uh nii-san, why are all hiding behind trash cans?"

 

"Because then we con't be seen, okay, Kitty?"

 

"Why was I named after cats?" Whined Kitty

 

"Ugh, this is boring, I'm going over there and talk to that kid right now!" Menma then jumped from behind the trashcan and ran up to the red headed kid that they had basically been stocking for the past three days since they got to Suna.

 

"NOOOO!" Was heared from behind the trashcans by the playground making the red head, who was now the only one in the playground thankfully, turn towards them to see a little blond kid running up to him.

 

The red head's first thought was to run or something, but something made him stay, the boy reached him, slightly out of breath and said, "lets be friends!"

 

**Flashback**

 

Naruto, Hinata, and Shikamaru arrived in Wind Country and set up camp few enough any that the village couldn't see them, but could be seen. "How are we getting inside?" Asked Hinata.

 

"We're going to wear these," Naruto held up some footless pajamas with hoods that were sand colored, "then we'll place these camo seals on ourselves to blend in with our environment." He handed out seal tags to everyone along with the pj's, "you can easily get two or three uses out of it if you put your chakra into it, it'll act like a storage seal when you put your chakra into it until you use it again."

 

"Whoa nii-san, that's awesome, who made this?" Menma asked

 

"Hidi, she's a sealing master," Shikamaru said, the triplets looked at the seals with stars in their eyes.

 

Naruto clapped his hands to get the attention back onto himself, "alright, when we get inside, we'll split into teams of two and look for the boy, his name is Gaara, Ray tells me that he's the Kazakage's son. If he's the kid of a kage, we may need to do some convincing to take him with up, it may not be too bad. "

 

"What do you mean that it may not be too bad?" Shikamaru and Hinata asked together.

 

"Well, I don't know about my family back in the village, but if Gaara's family is like what a family is supposed to be like, then I say he may not want to leave, If he doesn't, then I get the feeling that someone's going to do something that'll make the poor guy snap sooner or later, you know?" Explained Naruto, everyone else nodded at that and put on their disguise before sitting down to eat their dinner, Kurama was sulking inside the seal because Naruto and Shikamaru didn't think it was time to let Hinata know that he could come out just yet. That and they were having cup ramen for dinner, Kurama looked ramen and, even though the seal lets him eat with them in a way, he still wanted to be outside with his own cup in his hands. He also wanted to play with the triplets a little before they went to the village, he just loved those kid so much, he would play with them every chance he got. Once everyone was done eating, they packed up their stuff in the sealing bag and took off for the village, the camo seals worked wonders for infiltration, after about an hour of looking, they found Gaara. However, they couldn't get anywhere near the red head because there were ANBU  hanging around his too often, they thought that the ANBU was there to protect the boy, but they were shocked when the ANBU attacked said red head. It didn't happen just once either, two or three times a day at the very least, Gaara defeated them every time, but it was annoying to all of them, especially Menma. So they were stuck in the shadows for three days straight, the boredom was real.

 

**Flashback end**

 

 

Gaara stared at the boy for a moment before looking around the park, he then turned back at the boy, "w-who a-are you talking t-to?"

 

Menma pointed at Gaara, "you. duh, who else? There's no one else here is there?"

 

"N-n-no, there's n-no o-one here," Gaara said holding his teddy bear close to him, "d-did my father send you?"

 

"Huh? Who's your dad, I don't know anyone, this is my first time here, oh oops!" The little two year old covered his mouth as he felt a dark aura aimed at him from the trashcans.

 

Behind said trashcan Naruto was quietly grumbling about why Menma had to be such a loud mouth, he made a vow right then and there to train his little brother to be more quite. "You're knew here? Does that mean you're not one of the villagers kids who got lost trying to see the d-demon?" Gaara asked having a hard time calling himself a demon, Naruto, seeing that there was no way his little brother could make this any worse than it already was, decided to come out of hiding. Gaara, seeing the other kids come out from behind the trashcan, stepped back, "w-who are you and what do you w-want?"

 

Naruto sighed and put on a smile, "sorry about that, we were trying to meet with you after three long days, but every time we got close, someone was trying to kill you, so we held back. But this little baka," he said as he was walking over and punched Menma in the head, lightly though (he's not Sakura), "had to go and tell you all about us not even being from this place." He turned a sweet smile to Menma, said boy gulped because he knew he was in trouble, Naruto sighed again and looked back at Gaara with a serious face, "look, we're here to get you out of here, okay."

 

Gaara blinked, did he hear this kid right? "Wha-"

 

"Nii-san, it feels like someone's coming, they're still far away but they're coming up fast," said Kohaku.

 

"Troublesome, alright kid, we don't have time to tell you everything right now, but if you get us to a safe spot were we could talk in privet, we promise we'll tell you everything, alright?" Shikamaru said with a bored expression on his face as he picked up Kohaku to put him on his back.

 

Gaara nodded, "follow me," the others nodded and followed Gaara to a large house. When the shinobi that were coming to kill said red head, they found that he was already gone, which has never happened before, they shrugged it off as just luck and went to go look for him. Meanwhile, Gaara brought the group into his room and locked the door, his room was filled with... nothing, no books, no toys, just a bed and a wardrobe. It could have been their imagination, but some of them thought they felt a cold breeze pass around the room, "u-uh, this is my room, make yourself comfortable," Gaara said seeing everyone looking around the room.

 

Hinata smiled sweetly at Gaara, "Gaara, you don't have to lie, we wont try to kill you in your sleep, promise."

 

Shikamaru looked at Gaara for a moment before placing a hand on her shoulder, "actually Hime, I think this really is his room," he pointed his chin at Gaara's down cast face.

 

"Oh," she looked back to see Gaara's face, looking like he was about to cry, she walked up to him and gave him a hug, "I'm sorry."

 

"It's okay, I'm used to it," Gaara said as some tears fell.

 

Naruto walked up to Gaara, put his hands on his shoulders after Hinata stepped aside, then shook the red head for a moment, "don't get used to it. Don't you ever get used to people treating you as if you weren't human too, you have red blood just like them, you have a heart just like them, and you feel just like them, so don't let me ever hear you say a thing like that ever again. You understand? You're human too, I'm human, she's human, he's human, we're all human."

 

**"Uh-"**

 

_"Shut up Kurama, I'm making a point"_

 

**"Don't be rude brat, I was just wondering if I could come out now. I've got something that I want to try, so can I come out already?"**

 

Naruto thought for a moment,  _"fine, you can come out,"_ he said cooling down,  _"sorry for yelling."_

 

 **"It's whatever,"** Naruto stepped away from the now crying Gaara, there was a swirl of red and Kurama was there, he looked down at the Tanuki holder and smiled. "Hiya, I'm Kurama, also known as the Kyuubi no Kitsune, clan head of the Kitsune clan, and I..." he knelt down in front of the child, "do believe that you've got my baby brother locked away inside you." Gaara looked at the man in front of him, about to ask how he knew that if they weren't from Suna, but then said man pulled out a seal tag, " can you lift up your shirt for me so I can put this on you tummy, pleas?" Gaara was taken aback by the niceness of this person he's never seen before, so he nodded and did as told, Kurama put the seal on Gaara and it melted into the boy's skin, suddenly there was a swirl of wind and a man stood there. Sandy-blond hair, amber eyes, a child-like face, and a slim figure, Gaara looked at the man, "who are you?"

 

The man looked at Gaara, then himself before a smile broke out on his face, "I'm Shukaku, and I think it's about time you guys explain why I can be out of my seal and he be alive still."

 

So Naruto told them, "Kurama put a special seal on you so you can come out in a human form while some of your power still resides inside Gaara. In this form you can also turn into your tailed beast form by doing some hand signs to release a locking system that will shift your physical structure into that of a beast, but still not be released, you can also go in and out of the seal whenever, but only with trust and an agreement from Gaara. You can not go more than half the length of a village away from Gaara or else you'll be sucked back into the seal, you can still get out again using the same methods."

 

Shikamaru stepped up then, "as for what we're doing here, we've sent a group of spies, Naruto and myself both, to check out other villages, we've come to find that we were here."

 

"From what I was told, and what we witnessed these past few days, it would be safe to assume that if you had the chance to run away, you just might, with some help, you will," Naruto said looking at Gaara.

 

Now it was Hinata's turn, "we were worried that you wouldn't trust us right away and would then run away to tell someone about us being here. Seeing as you didn't, we'll take that as a sign of good faith, and now we can be true friends."

 

"Friends?" Asked Gaara wide eyed.

 

Naruto nodded walking over, he put a hand on Gaara's shoulder, "yes, Gaara, we're friends now, before we came here, the six-seven of us came from the same village. We were mistreated, by our own family no less, but we ran away from all that and are going to find a place to start over."

 

"Where?" Shukaku asked, he didn't seem to be the rampaging monster that everyone made him out to be.

 

"Kumo,"Kurama said.

 

"Kumo? Why there?"

 

"Because of the rikage," Naruto said, everyone looked at him. "I've been going some thinking since we got here, it just occurred to me, back in our village, Kumo had sent their ninjas to Konoha three times to steal away bloodline limits. Hinata was kidnapped by them but was saved by her step-mother, who wasn't a bloodline limiter, she was actually a civilian, so when they asked for a body, they sent hers. Then a year and a half later, they tried again, this time it was the hokage that saved the person being kidnapped, Hinata's little sister, Hanabi, they couldn't very well ask for the hokage's body unless they ask for war as well." He turned back to Hinata, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you that we were going to Kumo before no-"

 

Hinat shook her head, "please, if it's Kumo, then just maybe I can get revenge for what  _he_ did to me while we were still there. If it's Kumo, I don't care, as long as they don't try to take my eyes from my head as I sleep, we'll be fine."

 

Shikamaru nodded, "we'll get to that when we get to it, as for now, we need to continue on and focus on how we're getting out of here. We've got the camo seals, but we've been using them for three days straight, we've also been on soldier pills and ramen since we left, I don't know about you guys, but I need a kitchen with some supplies soon, or else."

 

"Don't worry nii-san, I'm sure once we get out of here, you can cook us up something real nice to eat," said Neko cheerfully.

 

Shikamaru rested a hand on the little boy's head, "yea."

 

"Wait, can't we just go to Trickster Ally to eat?" Hinata asked, she knew about said place because Naruto and Shikamaru had promise to bring her there once.

 

"Trickster Ally, huh, Kurama? Looks like the Kitsune clan is still around, I was worried that they would have been whipped out during the wars in both worlds," said Shukau.

 

Kurama smirked, "yeah they're still around, in fact a few tanukis snuck in and wanted to join."

 

"You're kidding,  _my_ had survivors?" Shukaku chuckled, "what are the odds?"

 

"What are you guy talking about, what wars?" Kohaku asked.

 

"Oh kit, there are way to may past and present wars to talk about in the limited time we have now," Kurama said before turning to Gaara. "Alright, we're only got time for you to pack you your things and then raid the kitchen for food supplies to cook later on the road, so I want you pack up all your stuff while Shukaku and I grab what we need, got it?"

 

Gaara nodded and started packing, but there wasn't much to pack, he had a very limited number of clothes and shoes. Shikamaru put all of Gaara's clothes in his sealing bag before everyone followed Kurama and Shukaku to the kitchen to grab stuff, they realized that they were alone in the house, but they still hurried. They ended up taking all the food in the kitchen, some pots, pans, cups, plats, and silverware before leaving out the back door, when they were done, the kitchen was practically empty.

 

Now it was time to sneak Gaara and Shukaku out of Suna, it went away better than they thought it would. They didn't have enough chakra in the camo seal to make it out the gates, so Shukaku did this jutsu that allowed whoever was touching him to turn into sand, slide out the front gates, then turn back into themselves. It was kinda cool. From there, they all ran like they're tails were on fire until they past the boarder into Rain Country, they didn't go into the village, but they did hid in a large cave. The cave seemed to have more to it, so Shukaku went to go check it out while the others rested, when he came back he told them that he found crates of food still there, most of it was still eatable while some had to be left alone. Naruto and Shikamaru then set to work cooking up a with what they had and sealed everything else away.

 

"Wow, those bags are really convenient for traveling aren't they," Hinata commented as they waited for the food to be done.

 

Kurama nodded, "yea, there are only two like them and these are them. They were made special for Shikamaru and Naruto's birthday, however, I'm sure that we could get Hati to make you guys one if you want."

 

The triplets cheered, Gaara tapped Kurama's shoulder, "um, you guys haven't really introduced your selves yet, you know about me but I haven't heard a anything about you guys at all."

 

Naruto nodded as he and Shikamaru walked over with a big pot of food, "Gaara's right, so lets all do a roll call and tell each other a little about themselves," he said as he dished out the food.

 

"I'll go first, I'm Kurama, as you know I'm the Kyuubi and I'm sealed inside Naruto here. About 8 years back I was tricked into attacking the leaf village, but the hokage split me in half and put me inside of his two new born twin brats, which then he and his family later ignored one of them. This one here *point's hat Naruto* he ignored for whatever reason, I don't know. Anyways, about two years back I was released from the seal and-"

 

Shukaku too that moment to do a spit take away from the food, "then how is he still alive!"

 

"First otouto, make sure when you spit, it doesn't land on me," Kurama said whipping his face of the spit, "second, he's an Uzumaki."

 

"OOOH, well it explains the smell coming off him," Shukaku said eyeing Naruto funnily.

 

"What smell?" Asked said blond.

 

"Later, later kit, so anyways he- and swear to kami if you spit on me again, we will fight," Kurama eyed his brother critically, Shukaku nodded getting the point. "He did eye when when I was released-only three minutes though," he quickly added when he saw the triplets start to tear up, "I manged to save him and brought him to Trickster Ally to heal. Then we trained, he met Kibo, then Shikamaru, we all trained, met Hinata, and left, the end."

 

"Wow, Kurama, that story was so interesting," Naruto said sarcastically as he finished dishing out every ones food, "okay, my turn. I'm Naruto Uzumaki, I used to be a Namikaze too, but they didn't seem to care either way, so i'm just Uzumaki now. My former father is the hokage, the yellow flash, my former mother is his wife, the red death. I have four former siblings by in Konoha, maybe more now, I have three current siblings right here and they're names are Menma, Kohaku, and Neko. And-"

 

Just then they heard a noise come from outside the cave, they looked around at each other before going to check it out. When they got there, they saw what looked like a little girl, covered in mud, dirt, and blood? The person was un-continuous and looked pretty beat up, "come, we'll take her inside and heal her wounds, wherever she came from, I don't think she'll want to go back." Said Kurama picking up the person up, they went inside and Kurama healed her, a few hours later, everyone was done eating and was waiting for the new comer to wake up when they did.

 

Kurama and Shukaku sat down on either side of her as she woke, helping her sit up, "where am I? Who are you people?"

 

"I'm Neko, these are my brothers, Menma, Kohaku, Shikamaru, and my big sister Naruto," giggled to smallest red head in the group.

 

"Neko you better be luckily that you're so adorable or else I would have whopped your butt for that," Naruto said sweetly as he walked over to the newly awake stranger. "Hi, I'm Naruto and I'm a boy, how about you?"

 

"Uh, I'm Haku and I'm also a boy," said the newly named  _boy_.

 

"Aww damn, there it is again, Kurama, bro I think my nose is broken," said Shukaku.

 

Kurama sighed as he looked at a confused Haku, "are you by any chance apart of the Yuki clan or the Namikaze clan, by any chance at all?"

 

Haku nodded, "my mother was apart of the Yuki clan before the war started, why?"

 

Kurama shook his head, "Naruto I think it would be best if take a detour to Uzu."

 

"Uzu's the home of the Uzumaki's, right?" Asked Hinata, Kurama nodded, "what do we need there?"

 

"Well..." Kurama started, "once we get there, I can answer some questions in detail, but for right now, all that I can tell you that Naruto, Haku, and Shikamaru all smell like girls because you all have the Omega Gene, or OG Trait."

 

"Huh? Why am I in this? I don't look like a girl, do I?" Shika asked.

 

At this point two puffs of smoke appeared to reveal Kibo and his ever present shadow, Jin. Jin looked up at his green eyed counterpart, hay there sis, hows it going?" 

 

Shikamaru sulked in the corner of the cave, "oh man, I thought it was only Naruto, now it's me too, this is such a drag," Everyone giggled a little.

 

Kurama clapped his hands, "Naruto, give Haku something to eat, we're heading to Uzu tomorrow morning, then straight to Kumo right after. So try to get a good rest while you can."


	8. Uzu of Rikages and runaways

The group of runaways where just awaking and began to start the day, Naruto and Shikamaru made breakfast for everyone. Kurama and Shukaku mapped out the path they would take. Kibo and jin played with the triplets. Haku and Gaara talked to each other about themselves and why they were traveling with the group. When the food was done everyone gathered around to eat, "hay, we didn't finish introducing ourselves last night, did we?" Asked Hinata.

 

"No, we didn't, so who would like to go first, and I suggest we make it fast because the sooner we get out of here, the better," Shukaku said.

 

"What's the matter otuoto? Getting scared now that your out of your seal?" Kurama joked.

 

Shukaku shook his head whith his eyes closed, "no, the ground is trembling... I think there are a group of people coming this way," his eyes snapped open, "we should get going now. I don't think that we'd be welcomed by them for too much."

 

Kurama eyed his brother for a second before nodding, "alright, lets pack up everything, once we're in the clear, we'll talk about intro's then."

 

"Is something wrong, Papa?" Neko asked walking up to Kurama.

 

Kurama shook his head, "no, we're just changing locations right now, nothing to worry about, okay, Kitty?" He smiled, Neko nodded and went to help pack, Kurama looked over to Haku, "can you run with us?"

 

"Yes, but I don't want to be any trouble," Haku said as he helped up away the food.

 

"You're no trouble at all, if you can make it all the way over to Rain Country from Kiri, then you will be able to hold your own with us," Kurama said with a grin, Haku nodded and got back to work. "Is everyone ready?" He asked when the packing was completed, everyone nodded, "okay since we have three new people with us, we're going to hold close formation until we move out of Rain Country, we'll need to cut a line through Fire Country before reaching Uzu. We wont go anywhere near Konoha, so don't fret about that, okay Naruto?" Said boy nodded, "alright, on our way to Uzu, if we stumble onto any places that have useful info on training, take it, we'll be using it to train when we get to Uzu, after a couple of week there, we'll be going to Kumo."

 

"Nii-san, we must hurry," said Shukau.

 

Kurama nodded, "any questions?"

 

Haku raised his hands, "I heard from Gaara that you all ran away from home and Kumo's going to be you new home, but might I ask why?"

 

"Simple, who would think to look for six Konoha kids in Kumo when two have bloodlines, one they tried to steal I might add, and four of the hokage's children, one of which is a jinchuriki," stated Shikamaru.

 

Kurama nodded, "couldn't have said it better myself, now is everyone ready? We'll explain everything on the, no lets get going," everyone nodded and left the cave.

* * *

 

 

After making it out of Rain Country, they group made their way across the border to Fire Country in a tight formation like Kurama said so no one got lost or separated. They noticed a few Suna and Konoha ANBU lurking about, but the group stayed away from them and made sure to cover their tracks well. They passed by Konoha from a good distance away, when the village was no longer in view, they loosened up the formation to spread out more but still be insight of each other. They reached the path that would take lead them to Uzu by midnight, by now everyone was tired and needed to rest, they set down outside of a small village and made camp for the night. Kurama went off to do some hunting for dinner that night, while Shukau stayed to keep watch, everyone else set up the tent to sleep in, there was only one tell to be used, Haku and Gaara wasn't sure if they would all fit inside.

 

"It's bigger on the inside," Naruto said after finishing drawing a seal on the tent, "take a look...now, the're enough space to go around."

 

The tent didn't change, at least not from the out side, Haku looked at the small tent that seemed to look as though it could only hold three people countably. However, seeing Naruto draw the seal on the tent, he shrugged and went inside, he looked qaround in shock before pulling his head out and walk around the tent to see that the outer dimensions didn't change, but the inner dimensions did. "Whoa, how did you do that?" Haku asked Naruto.

 

He shrugged, "I've been working on seals for the past two years now, you would think that it was complicated, but it's not. Plus I had a good sensei... c'mon, I'll show you around, they're plenty of room for every one." Gaara and Haku went inside the tent, Gaara was surprised to see how big it was on the inside, right there before them was a long hallway of rooms, down the hall was two doors that said 'Bathroom' and 'Kitchen'. Naruto opened the closest door to him, inside was a large room with a king sized bed, a desk, a wardrobe, and a lamp, "there ten rooms in all and each room has either a king or a queen sized bed. I could also make each room have all king sized or all queen sized bed, there aren't any clothes in the wardrobe unless you put some in there yourselves, I can't make the clothes with the tent, but my sealing sensei has been teaching me the art of making my own clothes." Haku and Gaara looked on in awe at the room as Naruto walked out, "come, I'll show you were you can take a shower," he said and led them down the hall to the door that said 'Bathroom'. He opened the door to reveal three bathtubs and two stand up showers on on the opposite all, the room was even big enough to have a large sunk-in bathtub in the center of the room, the room itself had a clean feel to it with white floors and ceiling, blue walls, and shelves filled with bottles that could only be different types of bathing products. "You can take your shower in here, you too, Gaara, if you want," Haku and Gaara snapped out of their trance like state to turn back to Naruto, he chucked which made them blush for being so taken by the rooms in the tent, "whenever you two are done, I'm sure that Shika and I can find some clothes for you to wear. I'll be next door in the kitchen if you need me."

 

"Wait," Haku said, Naruto nodded so he could go on, "um, uh, I was uh, just wondering why you left Konoha if your a child of a kage." Naruto's smile faded and he thought he had said the wrong thing, "what I mean is, uh..."

 

"I know what you mean," Naruto took in a deep breath, "I left because I wasn't being treated like part of the family, that's about all I'm going to say for now, have a nice bath." He then closed the door and walked back down the hallway and out the tent, once outside he walked over to his sealing bag and took a look inside, they still had a lot of food, enough to last a good month or so, and the bag always keeps whatever is put inside it in the same shape it was in before. 

 

"Hay there, Naru, you feel like baking some cake tonight?" Shikamaru asked as he walked over to Naruto, he could always tell when the blond was sad, it was something that he's always had, he didn't understand it at first, sometimes when someone was feeling a certain emotion strongly, Shikamaru would see the emotion floating around them in colors that would go with that emotion.

 

"Yeah, maybe we could cook up a fest if Kurama comes back with a few deer or a lion," Naruto said not turning to look at the Nara.

 

The Nara walked over to the blond, he put a hand on his shoulder, "your green with envy and sad with the blues, care to share?"

 

Naruto sighed, "Konoha, Narumi, the hokage, Lady Kushina, pick one if you can," he said as he got up. He turned to Shikamaru and put a hand on his cheek. Shikamaru looked into Naruto's eyes for a long time, searching for something, the blond smiled, "make it a layered cake and I'll call it a deal," Shika nodded and grabbed his hand, pulling the blond into the tent.

 

Meanwhile, Jin and Kibo saw all of this from their friends, "what do you think, Jin?" Kibo asked watching his blond counterpart disappear into the tent.

 

"What do I think about what, Kibo?" Jin asked.

 

"About Naru and Shika? Who do you think will confess first?" 

 

"Don't know, it's hard to say, but if I was to guess, Shika would be first."

 

"Shika, why not Naru? Isn't he smart enough to see that Shika wants him?"

 

The orangy-red fox nodded, "yes, he's smart, but he's been ignored most of his life, he's not too keen on the signs of love like most people would be."

 

The golden fox thought for a moment, "I guess so... hmm...."

 

Jin looked over at his friend, "what are you thinking?" 

 

"I was just thinking back on the memories Naru had as a child, I've noticed that before he was four, he's never been outside, other than that one time he got beat up or go to the library. Which really wan't all that often," Kibo had a worried look on his face. "Before he got beat up my those stupid villagers, he would only go to the library once every few months and leave with a large stack of books, when he ate it never seemed like it was enough, and... I keep getting the feeling the feeling that he might be sick some how."

 

At this Jin's ears stood up, "what do you mean? Sick how? He didn't look like he had a cold or anything."

 

Kibo shrugged, "That's because he is sick," both foxes turned to see Kurama walking up to them with two dead deers on either shoulder.

 

"What do you mean, Kurama-nii, how could Naru be sick and not look it?" Asked Kibo with a worried frown.

 

Kurama put down the four deer he caught earlier, he sat on a rock next to the two little foxes, he sighed "he's sick and he doesn't even know it."

 

"How? He's very observant of others and himself, how does he not know?" Kibo asked.

 

"Because it's a disease that can't be spotted while staying inside, if he was a normal kid and went outside every day, he would have found out. Not even his family knows about this," Kurama said sadly.

 

Jin padded over to Kurama, he sat down next to him, "what kind of disease does he have?"

 

"It has something to do with his immune system, if he was to stay outside of his house too long, he would die. I don't know what it's called, however, I do know that because he died when for three minute when I was released, then came back to life... well if we don't get to Uzu soon, he may die." 

 

"Will Uzu save him?" Kibo said in a panic, "is there someone in Uzu who can help him?"

 

Kurama looked down at the golden fox who had tears in his eyes, "I don't know if there's even anyone still living in Uzu anymore, but once we get there, I can summon Hidi and Hinata to create a seal that'll help him live. Whether he's inside or outside, Hinata and Hidi will be able to make a seal to help Naruto live longer when he goes outside," Kurama said, Kibo had tears rolling down his eyes now, Kurama leaned forward to pick the crying fox. He held him close as he continued, "don't worry, as log as we can get to Uzu in under three or four days, he'll make it."

 

"Kurama, Naru's been outside for almost two weeks now, not counting all the time he's been to Trickster Ally and all. Plus he goes out training with you when his family's not home, how come he's not, well... you know." asked Jin.

 

"Because the first time he went to Trickster Ally, he was barely alive to start with and he was surrounded by my chakra. I found out about his immune system when we first started training, after the first week he couldn't move or stand up. I thought it was the training, but Hinata informed me that it wasn't. For the past two years we've been looking for someway for Naru to go outside for long periods of time with out getting sick, it was Hinata that came up with the sealing idea before we left." Kurama rubbed Kibo's back to calm him down, "when Hidi was placing the new seals on Shika and the rest of us, she also placed a temporary fix on Naruto so he could continue staying outside, but the time on that seal is running out and we need a new, permanent seal on him."

 

"Why don't you tell Naru about it?" Kibo sniffed, wiping a tear away.

 

"Because then Naru will start getting mad at his family and think that this thing made him week after he's come so far. I do plan on telling him. After we get to Uzu, I'll summon Hidi and Hinata, they'll put the new seal on him before we start training, before head out to Kumo, I'll tell him then but only if I think he's ready to be told."

 

The foxes nodded as the person they were talking about came over, "hay Kurama, I don't know you were back," said Naruto.

 

The trio looked back at him, Kurama smiled, "hay kit, I've brought you some deer to cook, there's even enough to last us until we get to Uzu."

 

Naruto's blue and green eyes light up, "yatta! Now I get to make the feast I wanted! Well what you waiting for, Kurama, bring 'em in side so I can start making the food!" Then the curly haired blond bounced away happily, his curls bouncing with him as he went.

 

Kurama sighed, "you can come out now Hinata, Shukaku, I know you heard everything," said Hyuuga and sand demon came out from behind the trees.

 

"I only come in on the last part," Hinata said sheepishly with a blush.

 

"Nii-san, you haven't changed," Shukaku said walking over to ick up two deer.

 

"Would you want me to?" Kurama chuckled as he put Kibo down and walked over to also pick up two deer.

 

"No," Shukaku said with a smile, Kurama chuckled again as they all walked back to the tent.

 

"Oh, and I know you guys know the drill, right?" Kurama asked before they walked into the kitchen, Shukaku and Hinata nodded, "good."

* * *

 

 

Morning broke over the tent as everyone get ready for the day. Shika had lent Gaara and Haku some of their clothes so they could change out of their borrowed pj's, Haku had on the fox one and Gaara had the cat one. Hinata had brought her favorite camera with her to the party before they left, along with extra film, and decided to make a scrap book about their adventures, so when she saw Haku and Gaara in their pj's, she couldn't stop herself from taking pictures. Haku had complained that he wasn't a girl when Hinata called him cute, which she replied with, "it doesn't matter what gender you are, cute is cute!" Then she took a multitude of pictures of everyone else in their pjs, Kuramas pj's were the usual button down shirt and pj pants, but he had little yellow foxes all over it. Shikaku borrowed pj's from his brother, he had the same thing on, but his was brown with tanuki's all over it, Hinata thought it was ironic and took their pictures. She found Shika and Naruto still sleeping, with the former sharing a bed with the latter while they both cuddled together wearing matching puppy style footless pj's, Naruto's was a poodle design and Shikamaru's was a domination design. Hinata had to hold back a squeal as she quickly took their picture and left, her next victims were the three little piggys, as in Kohaku, Menma, and Neko were all wearing yellow pig styled footless pj's. This time she did squeal and took pictures of the three running about playing as if she was a proud mother herself, this was how everyone had found her, drunk on cuteness and taking pictures like a mad woman. They had all woken from their sleep, Gaara was woken from his meditated sleep, when they heard the high pitched noise, thinking that they were being attacked and came with their weapons in hand. However, once they found the source of the noise, they all sweatdropped at Hinata antics and decided to just get everything ready to leave.

 

"Man Hime, you gave us such a scared  this morning, what was with all those pictures?" Naruto asked as they sat down for breakfast.

 

"I'm scrap booking," Hinata said happily, "oh that reminds me, we should get a group picture with everyone in their pj's, it's going to be so cute!" She squealed again with stars in her eyes.

 

"Right, I'm still a guy, and before little miss scrap book goes off the deep end, lets do introductions," Haku said as he poured everyone's drink.

 

"What a drag, it's still so early," Shika said tirly while Naruto rubbed his shoulder sympathetically.

 

"I guess I'll go first this time," Naruto said. "Names Naruto Uzumaki, I'm from Konoha, and I have three brothers," he pointed to the triplets who were already digging into their food. "Our former father was the hokage, the yellow flash or just Minato Namikaze, and our former mother is known as the red death or just Kushina Uzumaki, we left because no one payed attention to us enough to notice the small things. I also used to have two older brothers, a older sister, and a twin that was older than me my two minute. My favorite colors are red, orange, green, and blue, I like training, making seals, and hanging out with you guys, My hobby is making clothes and baking cakes, and I dislike people that judge others. I also have a familiar, who seems to be still asleep, named   Who's next?"

 

"I'll go," said Hinata, "my name is Hinata Hyuuga, I'm also from Konoha and I have a little sister back in the village, but she doesn't see me as a big sister, I also have a cousin who kinda has a crush on me for some reason." Naruto and Shika gave her a look, she shrugged, "my former father was clan head and by clan laws, he was allowed to have two wives, my mother was a civilian he married just for fun, my sister's mother was a strong kunoichi, because of this my father treats me as if I'm weak and worthless. I couldn't take it anymore so I left with Naru and Shika. I like taking pictures, cinnamon buns, training and taking pictures, my hobby is scrap booking and making things from scratch, my favorite colors are purple and other light or bright colors. I dislike others who underestimate me."

 

"Troublesome, my names Shikamaru, Shika for short. I never had any siblings, so my former mother thought it would be fine to make them with him, but I didn't feel the same way, after she scared me for life, I ran away from home until I met Naru and Kurama. They took me in and trained, then I met Jin, who seems to also be sleeping. My favorite colors are green, yellow, and blue, I like watching clouds, sleeping in late, baking cake, and training, my hobbies include baking cake, cooking, sleeping, and making new things. I also have a dad in Konoha who I wish to see again some day, and I dislike people who like to abuse or hurt others to get what they want."

 

"Well since we're going around the table, my names Gaara, my former father never gave me a last name. I come from Suna, I used to have an older brother and sister, but they never treated me like a sibling or a person, my former father is the kazakage, known as Rasa of the golden sand or just Rasa Sabuku. I left because I couldn't take living there anymore after finding out that I now had a way to leave and never come back, I left, I don't have any hobbies, I like hanging out with you guys and I dislike all the people who were sent to kill my by the Kazakage. My favorite color is red and brown."

 

"Wait... that was your dad sending all those people to kill you?" Naruto asked a little angrily.

 

"Yes, but not anymore, I'm free now," Gaara smiled a little then.

 

"Wow, that's messed up," said Haku, "well I guess it's my turn now. I'm Haku Yuki, I come from Kiri, I don't have a mother because my former father killed her before trying to kill me, I ended up killing him though, then ran away and met you guys. Kiri was having a bloodline purge when I left so I can never go back, either that or I join the rebellion, but I didn't know where they were. My favorite colors are pink, red, and gold, I like reading and finding new things, my hobbies are leaning new things and going new places, and I hate people that discriminate against others."

 

"Wow, well there sure are a lot of happy tails around this table," Shukaku said sarcastically, "well I'm Shukaku, I'm the Ichibi and the head of the Tanuki clan, if there are any of them left. I came from Gaara, since I'm sealed within him, I have eight other siblings, Kurama is the oldest, I'm the youngest. My favorite color is red, my hobby is to look after Gaara to make sure he doesn't fall asleep, my favorite thing to do is to...hmm, I guess I would have to say destroying the villages and people that hate me for no reason. I dislike people who judge others, but I like traveling."

 

Kurama sweetdropped, "yep, you haven't changed either, so, my turn. Names Kurama, I'm the Kyuubi, the head of the Kitsune clan and I'm sealed inside Naruto. Like Shukaku said, I am the oldest out of all my siblings. My favorite things are training, teaching, and hunting, I dislike how people mistreat others, my favorite hobby is... torturing little kits to train hard and do their best."

 

The rest of the table sweatdropped at Kurama's excitement, "uh Papa, can you not torture us when you start training us?" Neko asked while Menma and Kohaku nodded.

 

Kurama gave them a dazzling smile, "nope, sorry kit, no exceptions, to be the best you can be, you have to push yourself."

 

Neko pouted but then smiled, "okay."

 

"Good, when everyone's done getting ready, we'll head out," Kurama said and got nodded from everyone.

* * *

 

 

Once everyone was ready and out of the tent with new traveling clothes on, thanks to Naruto and Shikamaru, Naruto undid the seal and packed up the tent. Thy left the area soon after before anyone could stumble onto their camp site, they continued heading toward Uzu at full speed. Naruto and Shikamaru had to hold onto Jin and Kibo since they were still asleep, which left Shukau holding Menma, Haku holding Kohaku, and Neko was held by Kurama, Gaara carried the one of the sealing bags, Hinata had the other and was. They ran at full speed, excited to see Uzu and all it had to offer them, they also wanted to start their training. They kept a steady pace with each other and made it to Uzu in just two days, which surprised them a little, however they had to get over the whirlpools before they actually reached the village once occupied by the Uzumaki's. They were just wondering how they would do such a thing when Shukaku suggested that he and Gaara make a brig of sand to get over the raging pools, they agreed seeing no other way to get to where they were going.

 

However, while it was known that Uzu was destroyed during the third grate ninja war, that didn't stop the group from pushing forward and exploring. Unbeknownst to the group of runaways there was another group of people already there. This group was from Kumo, it was the rikage and his two sons, A and Killer B, they had been on a retrieval mission to get some scrolls that were taken from the village by some ronin's. Of course the trio got the scrolls back since these scrolls were stolen from the rikag's mansion, they came, they saw, they bust some head then left. But after the long journey to find the ronin's, the fight to get their family scrolls back, and then the journey heading back to Kumo, the trio became tired and needed to rest, luckily Uzu was close by and they went there to rest. After a little while of resting, the trio were about to head out for home again when B said he heard someone heading their way.

 

"How may people are coming, B?" asked E, the rikage.

 

"I don't know they're feet are like their on their tip toes, but I know it more than four, fool ya fool," Killer B rapped his answer.

 

E thought for a moment, "come, we'll follow them and see what they're up to."

 

So the Kumo trio stuck to the shadows and found their way over to the newly arrived group. They saw two men with eight kids of varying ages and two foxes, one gold and one orange, E wondered about the two men and the children, he wondered if this was a field-tripe of some kind. His wondering was cut short when one of the two men, one with fire-y red hair, said something to the kids that made them cheer and run off while the two men followed. E nodded to A and B, the three letters followed the group deeper into the abandoned village, they watched as the kids played and explore the village ruins, it warmed E's heart to see kids so happy and care free. As they played, E took note of one of the girls that was with them, she had short shoulder length hair with a princes cut for bangs, pail skin, but her eyes were what caught his attention most, those pail lavender eyes that almost made the girl look blind. E knew right then and there that he wanted to speak to those two men she came with, just in case this was a kidnapping or a slave triad thing. He also noticed that the little boy with the red hair and dark circles around his eyes could control sand, this peeped E's curiosity, as well as A and Killer B's curiosity. 

 

When night came, E waited until the man with the red hair was alone to talk to him, he didn't have to wait long because said man broke away from the group and walked into the forest. E made hand signs to his two sons that to watch the camp while he talked to the older red head, B and A understood and stayed put while their father followed the man. The res head man walked until he had reached a good distance away from the camp site and turned to the direction that E was hiding, the man smirked, "we're alone now, so please, come out, I promise I wont bit," the man said.

 

E knew he was talking to him, there was no one else that he could be talking to, this meant that this man at least had some ninja training. E stepped out of the shadows and into the light of the moon, he got a good look at the man now in front of him. He had fire red hair, crimson red eyes, soft lips, smooth looking pail skin, a slim figure, and hips that gave him an almost feminine figure, E want too into men but the way this man looked- E had to force those thoughts away before they could finish themselves. He cleared his throat, "my name is E, I am the 3rd rikage of Kumo, my team and I were just resting here when you and your group arrived. I wanted to ask what you're doing here with those kids, especially a sand user and a Hyuuga, what are you planing to do with them?"

 

The man thought for a moment, "hmm, well it seems like you've caught me," the man said as his crimson eyes trailed along E's body, "if you must know, I was going to train them."

 

"For what?" E asked folding his arms.

 

"Whatever they want," answered the man.

 

"Where are they're families? Do they know about this?"

 

"Doubtful, but it wan't like they had any families to begin with when they left."

 

"How so?"

 

The man chuckled, "you've got to ask a few questions that would normally let those kits answer for themselves, but before that can happen, would you mind answering some of my questions?"

 

E shrugged, "I don't see why not."

 

"Good, first question, last year one of your shinobis tried to take one of my kits, tell, did you order it?" 

 

E sighed, he had a feeling that this would come up sooner or later, "no, I would never order such a thing to happen to happen, it goes against my code of honor. When I found out about it, I had the ninjas involved stripped of their ninja rankings and executed, they were lucky that that was all I did to them at the time. And before you asked who really order the kidnapping, it was my idiot councilmen who put it in motion, the once involved also met their end as well, I made sure of it."

 

The man raised is brows in surprise before smiling, "second question... what would you do if a Beyakugon user was to walk into your offers wanting to join your ninja ranks,what would you do?"

 

E raised an eye brow at that, "is the girl in your group the one you speak of?" The man gave nothing away as he continued to smile, E nodded, "if they ran all the way there from the safety of Konoha and their clan, I would want to know why they ran. I would as them for the reason they want to join before I could start on the paper work needed to get them into the system."

 

The man seemed pleased by E's answer as he nodded, "last question, you two team mate, are they both your sons?" 

 

"Yes, but only one is related to me by blood," E answered truthfully, the man's grin got wider, "now that that is out of the way, let me ask you something." The man motioned for him to go on, "what is your name?"

 

The man chuckled, "you can call me Kurama."

 

"Alright Kurama, what's your relation to those kids?"

 

Kurama thought for a moment, "you could say that I've seen what they went through to before they left the village." His smile turned into something of a sad one, "they've been through some things, lived through other things, and they're stronger for it."

 

E nodded, "you make it seem as though they were forced out by hard times," Kurama crimson eyes looked into E's eyes, E got the message, "what happened?"

 

"...I'll let them answer that for you," Kurama said as he started walking away from the clearing and E, he flipped his long red hair as he looked back at E. Said man was staring at Kurama's slim frame as Kurama had swung his hips a little as he walked, and the tight clothes that he was wearing showed of just how fit the red head was, "you coming, E?" E could only nod because his throat had suddenly went dry as he continued to stare at Kurama's perfectly round ass, Kurama chuckled and led the way back to the camp site, upon arriving, he motioned his sons to come down from their hiding places. 

 

When the kids looked back to find Kurama walking into the site with three other men, they felt uneasy about the new comers, that is until Kurama motioned for them to relax. "Kits, this is the rikage, E, and his two sons, be nice and introduce yourselves."

 

A little blond boy with two colored eyes, blue and green, and curly blond hair stepped forth, "hi, my names Naruto Uzumaki."

 

The red head with dark rings around his eyes stepped up next, "my names Gaara, nice to meet you."

 

The Hyuuga girl was next, "Hinata Hyuuga, pleased to meet you."

 

The other little girl of the group stepped up next, "Hello, I'm Haku Yuki, and before you mistake me as a girl, please know that I'm not."

 

E chuckled a little as another child came over, "my names Shikamaru Nara, nice to meet you."

 

Three little ones came up next, there were two blonds and a red head, the red head had mismatching eyes just like the older blond, "hi, I'm Neko and these are my brothers, Menma and Kohaku, it's nice to meet you," said the littlest red head happily as the other two waved at the trio.

 

The other man in the group, someone with sandy blond hair, a child-like face, and the same figure as Kurama walked up, "and I'm Shukaku. I see you've already met my brother, don't let him fool you, he's a bit of a fox."

 

Kurama rolled his eyes, "very funny, Shu, I'm cracking up, really I am," he droned.

 

"What about us?" The two foxes came over, E was a little taken aback by the talking foexes but quickly got over it, "I'm Kibo." Said the gold fox, "this is Jin," he pointed to the orange fox, "it's nice to meet you boss man."

 

E chuckled again, "it's nice to meet all of you, I'm E the rikage, as your friend said, these are my two sons, A and Killer B."

 

"Hi," A waved.

 

"Yo," said Killer

 

"Why do you guys only have letter as names?" Gaara asked.

 

"It's a family tradition," said A.

 

"So, I heard from Kurama that all of you ran away from home, may I ask why?" E asked, thus began the tail of how each of the children in front of them were treated, from Hinata's rape and abuse from her father, to Shikamaru's molestation by his mother, Naruto's neglect and servitude to his family, Gaara's assassination attempts by his father, the murder of Haku's parents, and the ignorance of both villages. By the end of the tail, A, B, and E wanted nothing more than to call war upon both villages for what they had done to these children, but then a thought came into his head, "hay, since you guys are coming to Kumo anyways, what do you say to being apart of my family? I have plenty of room to house all of you at my mansion, with that being your connection to me, the council can't lay a finger on you."

 

"Wow, so would that make you like our new dad or something?" Menma asked with stars in his eyes, E nodded, "yay, a new dad, a new home, and new big brothers, what more could a kid ask for?!" 

 

"Forgive him, he's excitable," Kohaku said coolly.

 

A chuckled, "nah, nah, it's fine, so how old are you guys anyways?"

 

"I just turned seven, Shikamaru's seven too, and Hinata's still six, but he birthday's coming up soon, oh and Menma, Neko, and Kohaku are all two," said Naruto.

 

"I just turned seven last month," said Gaara.

 

"I'm turning eight in a few weeks, so right now I'm seven," Haku said.

 

"What about you two?" E asked Kurama who looked to be in his late teens.

 

Kurama giggled, "you wouldn't believe me even if I told you."

 

"Fair enough," E said with a smile, he turned back to everyone else, "what are you guys going to do tomorrow?"

 

"They're going to be tortured by Papa!" Neko said happily.

 

"What?" E asked as well as his sons.

 

Kurama put his index finger and thumb over the brig of his nose, "he means I'm going to train them." The trio relaxed, "would you guys like to join us for dinner? Naruto just cooked."

 

The trio looked back at Naruto with a smile, "of course, if it's not too much trouble."

 

Naruto gave them a wide smile, "nope, you can spend the night too, I just added three extra room to the tent," he said as he and the others started waking to the tent. E looked at his two sons who shrugged, they walked into the tent and realized what Naruto meant.


	9. Truth and family

"Summoning jutsu!" 

 

There was a puff of smoke and two people appeared from it, one person was tall with long dark red hair, green eyes, she wore a blue tank top with spaghetti straps, long black leggings that stopped at her mid calf. She looked looked tired and angry at the person who summoned her. The person next to her had dark violet hair and eyes, she wore a dark purple casual kimono with a white apron around her waist, the sleeves of her kimono was tied up with a white string to free up her hands and most her arms. The two women looked at Kurama, the one who summoned them, "what's the big idea summoning us this early? I thought we were to be called tomorrow?" Hidi asked agitated by the kitsune clan head.

 

"Sorry, sorry, but since I was going to summon you anyways, why not do it now?" Kurama said with a nervous chuckle at the end.

 

The girl with the violet eyes stared at his, "Lord Kurama, you know I can tell when you're lying, I have been taking care of you for the past few year now. Even before you left and got sealed into a child while I was still every young, however, I can still tell that you're hiding something." Kurama hung his head, he knew that he was beat, "what's wrong this time?" The girl sighed.

 

"Well, Hinata, when we came to Uzu this morning, we were followed around by the rikage and his two sons until a little while ago," Kurama said peeking the two girl's entrust. 

 

"Wha-so you've talked to the rikage already? What'd he say?" Asked Hidi.

 

"It was a very well meet, everyone got along great, after Naruto and the others told them why they ran away, the rikage asked if he could adopt them. All of them..." Kurama smirked, "although I think he has other ways of bring me into the family," he chuckled.

 

Hinata walked up to the smirking fox man, who seemed to be lost in his perverted thoughts, she lifted her hand and slapped him across the face. Hard. Kurama snapped out of his thoughts at the slap, his ears fox ears flattened themselves onto his head as he found and rubbed his bruised cheek. "Are you done, my Lord?" Kurama nodded, "good, I apologize for that slap, however, you know that I don't like hearing you talk like that... *shudders* It's gross, like hearing about your parents made you. *sigh* Now tell us how Naru's seal is holding up, it's already been a year since I renewed the seal, it will need changing soon."

 

Kurama sighed as well, "he's doing fine, in fact with out the seal I doubt he would have been able to stay outside this long."

 

"If he's still doing alright, then you can just call us back tomorrow, right?" Hidi shrugged.

 

"When I say he's doing fine, I meant to say  _he was_ fine, but now.." he trailed off.

 

"What happened?" Hinata asked, her own ears standing at attention on her head.

 

"When the rikage and his sons started following us from a distance, at first he was fine, but then he started to feel over whelmed and tired. He took a nap after lunch and was feeling better, but after meeting the rikage and his sons, talking to them, I could see it... "

 

"See what?" Asked Hidi and Hinata at the same time.

 

"The reason why Naruto got tired before, I was only guessing before, but when he meet with them, he started looking slightly pail. I had to ask watch and see for a little while during dinner, once Naruto and Shikamaru started making the food and the three weren't too close by, he felt better. Yet after serving dinner, he fainted, Shikamaru, as expected with his... _sensitivities_ for emotions... he also passed out when he tried to wake Naruto up, one touch and he was out cold." Kurama folded his arms, "Jin was about to check Shikamaru to see if he was alright, but I stopped him knowing that the same thing would happen to him too."

 

"And what of Kibo, how's he handling this?" Hinata asked.

 

"He was looking pretty sick when I left, so I put him under a sleep jutsu until I got back."

 

"Who's watching them now?" Hidi asked.

 

"Before I left, Shukaku was looking after Naruto with help from Gaara and Haku," the girls looked at, "we kind of picked them up on our way to Uzu." They nodded for him to continue, "I asked little Hinata to look after Shikamaru, with the triplets, with their high energy levels, I simply told them to stay positive around him and he'll wake up soon."

 

"...You really think he's related to Mito, even though she was an Uzumaki?" Hidi asked.

 

Kurama shrugged, "how else you you explain his sensory of emotions?"

 

"Whether that's true or not, we must look at that later, but for now we need to take a look at Naruto." Hinata looked around the clearing they were in, "tell me, were's your camp located?" 

 

"I'll take you there," Kurama said walking out of the clearing, "oh, and the rikage is still there, so try to be nice, I know that you don't like meeting new people, Hinata."

 

"No promises, Kurama," said girl replied.

 

Kurama eyed her, " fair enough, I guess... let's go."

* * *

 

 

**Back in Konoha**

 

_One week earlier_

 

Narumi was playing with her new toys that she had gotten a week before on her birthday, she got a lot more presents this year than the last, maybe that was because she may or may not have taken the little presents that some people was going to give her brother, Naruto. Maybe because she didn't like how Naruto got a pet fox with gold fur, and then his friend, Shikamaru, got a orange one about a year later and she didn't, so she complained about it to her parents. Maybe it's because she wanted more presents than him, again, this year. Who could say? Speaking of her twin brother, all the presents that she did take from him were all about cooking and baking, Narumi hated book and she could never see herself  _cooking_ for anyone but herself. She got bored with his presents after flipping through this one baking book that showed how to make things like wedding cakes and stuff like that, she liked to look at those pictures and think about how good they would taste with tea at one of her tea parties. 

 

Now it's a week later and she was looking at the cook book again because she had nothing else to do when suddenly, she had an idea. Instead of just looking at the pictures, she could have the real thing for herself! All she had to do was ask her brother to just make it for her, perfect, now all she had to do was find him and ask. She skipped her way down to the kitchen where she knew he would be around this time of the day, she barged in to the room, ready to ye-tell her brother what she wanted, when she noticed that the room was empty. She looked around to see a pile of dishes in the sink, other than the dishes, the room was spotless. She scratched her head in wonder as she walked out of the room, she then went to around the house looking for him but couldn't find him in the house, she found M.J. reading a scroll on the couch and asked, "have you seen Naruto?"

 

M.J. shook his head, "no, but he's usually in the kitchen around this time, did you check there?" He asked, knowing that his littlest sister would mostly check every where else before the obvious place.

 

"Yes, I checked there first this time, all I found were some dirty dishes," Narumi stated.

 

M.J. stopped what he was reading and looked at his sister, "dirty dishes? In the sink? You sure?" He asked, Narumi nodded, M.J. put down the scroll he was reading and walked over to kitchen while Narumi followed. He walked into the room and looked around, the floors were clean, the counter spotless with a shin over the surface, dirty dishes in the sink, this felt weird to him. Usually when he walked in here he would smell something good cooking, or one his brother's clones would chase him out so the others could focus, but to have it empty like this during the day was... odd. M.J. did remember coming home from a mission once to this same scene, minus the dishes in the sink, and asked where Naruto had went. His parents said that he was on strike and he would be back to work in a few week or so, and he was. M.J. smiled and looked back at Narumi, "don't worry imouto, he'll be back in the kitchen cooking up a storm in no time, 'kay?"

 

Narumi pouted, it looked like she would have to wait a whole week to get her cake, but what could she do, force him to make her cake? That wouldn't work unless her parents were there to see him refuse to make the cake for her like last time, plus he wasn't in the house so her tactics definitely wouldn't work out. She sighed, "okay," M.J. smiled and her and patted her head before going back to what he was doing. Narumi looked at the cook book that she had been carrying around, "oh well, at least now I can look at all the cakes and stuff that he could make when he gets back to work," she left and went back to her room.

* * *

 

* * *

 

Kurama walked back to the tent with Hidi and Hinata in tow, when he left he had told the E and his son's to watch over everyone until he came back, E had been very worried for Naruto and Shikamaru after they fainted while they were serving dinner. Kurama told him not to worry because he was going to bring back someone that could help, then he left before E could ask who that help was, since the only once that he knew were there were in the tent. When red head came back to the camp site, he saw E waiting for him out side the tent, he walked up to the rikage with a smile, "you didn't have to wait outside for little ol' me," Kurama said in sweet voice.

 

"They don't need me inside right now, so I thought I would come out here and read the stars," E said.

 

"Hm, you read stars too?" Hinata asked stepping forward.

 

E nodded at her, "that I do, Miss, and who are you?"

 

"My name is Hinata Kitsune, I'm a seal master and a medic, I'm here to help Naruto with his seal."

 

"And I'm Hidi Kitsune, I'm also seal master and a medic, I'm also skilled in reading emotions and body language, they call me the Lie Directer back home."

 

E nodded, getting her point, he motioned for them to come inside, "how's Naruto's condition since Kurama left?" Asked Hinata as they walked down the hall to Naruto's room.

 

"No change, he's been in and out of contentiousness for a while now, he doesn't seem to want anything to eat or drink." E stopped in front of Naruto's room, he opened the door to show Naruto laying in bed mumbling to himself with his eyes closed, everyone was in the room, even Shikamaru, but he stood a way from the bed. "Shikamaru woke up a little while after you left, said something about swirling colored and strong feelings, wouldn't go any closer to the boy than that."

 

"Thank you, Rikage-sama, we shall take it from here," Hinata said stepping into the room. She looked around to see everyone, the triplet were sitting close to the bed looking tired, Shukaku and Gaara stood behind them, Haku and Hinata Hyuuga were to Naruto's left, Shikamaru stood a good feet away from Naruto's right, A and Killer B were looking onto the scene with worried eyes as they held up the wall by the door. She walked over to Naruto's bed side, she did some hand signs and her hands started to glow green, she moved her hands over his body starting from his head all the way down to his feet, she did it again to make sure before looking back to Kurama. Kurama come up next to her with a questioning look, everyone got closer but still kept a good distance from the laying blond. "He's over whelmed on chakra," said the older Hinata.

 

"Over whelmed on chakra? How and who?" Asked A.

 

"To tell you the truth, it's not a question on who's it is, it a question on how much he's over whelmed," said the purple Kitsune. "I can't give you a straight answer, but I can say this, since he hasn't been around so much kage level chakra in his life, and since this room is over flowing with kage or higher chakra, he's going to need to be flushed."

 

"What! You can't put nii-san in the toilet, that's gross," said Menma, everyone looked at him for a moment before chuckling.

 

"No, no, Menma, she's not going to put Naru in the toilet," Shikamaru chuckled much to the child's confusion. 

 

"That's right," said the ex-Hyuuga, "all she's going to do is just take out all of the bad chakra inside Naru that's making him feel sick."

 

"Oooh, okay then," Menma said with a grate big smile.

 

"Why are you so embarrassing?" Kohaku, the mature one of the triplets, said.

 

The older Hinata cleared her throat, "anyways, I'm going to draw a seal on him that will filter out the overwhelming chakra out of his system, he'll wake up within the hour. So, i'm going to need everyone to leave while I work, I'll come and get you when he wakes up," everyone nodded and went back to the kitchen, since they hadn't eaten yet, while Hidi and Kurama stayed to help. 

 

Kurama turned back to Hinata, "after you flush him, I think you should put the new seal on him, if it's ready that is."

 

Hinata nodded, "yes, I think I should do that as well, however..." she looked back to Naruto," once the seal is activated, he won't be able to do your heavy training for about three days." She turned back to Kurama with a small smirk, "will that be okay by you?"

 

"Oh yeah, and don't think we don't know how hard you've been working poor Naru during training," Hidi said cracking her knuckles.

 

Kurama chuckled, "oh uh, what was that, uh excuse me I think I hear someone calling my name," then he quickly left the room before he got beat up by Hidi...again.

* * *

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

**Back in Konoha**

 

_Some time after Naruto and the other reached Uzu_

 

Narumi was pacing the length of her room, she had just gotten the news that her parents had enrolled her and Naruto into the Ninja Academy, she was so happy thinking about how she would become a ninja. She also liked the idea of all the different types of cute lunches that her brother could make for her, maybe putting them in a super cute bento box for lunch. A t this thought her mouth watered thinking of the lunches for an hour and a half alone, when she shook herself out of her musing, she ran off to the kitchen to find her brother. It had been about two weeks, going on three, since she last went to the kitchen to ask her brother to make cake for her, after a week of waiting (she was surprised that she could wait that long), she had asked her siblings when Naruto would be done with his strike, they told her to wait another week or two for him to come back. After all, he's never went more than two or three weeks without making anything, so today she thought she would try here luck.

 

She ran to the kitchen with a great big smiled on her face and burst into the kitchen jumping up and down, talking about going to the academy, talking about the lunches he could make when... she actually noticed that he wasn't responding, she looked around to see that someone had washed the dishes that were in the sink the last time she was there. She walked around the kitchen, which was an open floor plan thing, with a large square counter in the middle, all the surfaces were a gray steel that shined like new in the light or the dark, smooth and cool to the touch and very modern (Minato's idea). Naruto loved it, he always said that the counter was perfectly leveled, all the surfaces was easier to clean, and he simply raved about  all the storage space, Narumi didn't get it, what was great about a kitchen? She didn't know, she just liked the idea of all the food that would come out of there, the kitchen was big like a chefs kitchen, which Naruto loved greatly, Narumi thought he was just crazy, but now that she was looking around it now...

 

The kitchen had a pretty good view of the training field out back, the windows let in a lot of light that you wouldn't even need to turn on the light, she thought that the place looked nice. Yet, seeing her brother wasn't in the kitchen with a bunch of clones running around working, the kitchen still looked nice, but also empty, and kind of lonely...like your cut off from the world and you've got your own little space right here. It was also very quite, too quite, Narumi backed out of the kitchen opting to go check somewhere else. She thought of another place he could be, she went up to his room and knocked on the door, she waited for a moment, no answer, she knocked again, no answer... she knocked on the door a final time before braking and entering, it was safe to say that she was pissed of at the lack of her brothers manners. She entered the room while doing her mother's famed Mudusa genjutsu, she looked around the room and stopped dead in her tracks.

 

White walls, queen sized platformed bed, a desk to one side, a bookcase to another side... but where were his toys? Where were his poster, pictures, she checked the closet, where were his clothes? Everything was bare, clean, dusted, it was like a child's room when they finally went away to collage. But Naruto wasn't a collage student, right? He couldn't have been or she would have known about it, so, where was everything!? Narumi started to panic, she ran out of her room and looked around the house, she looked and looked until she came back to her room, now she was pacing the floor thinking about where her brother could be. Or his friend, she was hadn't seen him in a while, Shikamaru was his name, wasn't it? Yeah, that was it, he was a Nara, and all Nara's lived in the Nara compound, that was it! She would go to said compound and ask for the Nara boy then ask him where brother was, at this point in her thinking, Narumi thought she was a genius like her father, so she left her own compound to find the Nara's. The Nara compound wasn't too far from her family's own, it was just a ten minute run for a ninja like her, she made it the compound in under ten minute and went up to the door. She knocked on the door and waited for it to be answered, Mrs. Nara came out, she smiled down at Narumi..

 

"Hello, Mrs. Nara, is Shikamaru around?" Narumi asked sweetly.

 

Yoshino gave her a funny look, "no, I haven't dear, I thought he was still staying over at your house."

 

Narumi shook her head, "he was but I thought he came back here, I'm looking for my brother and I was wondering if Shikamaru saw him around."

 

Yoshino frowned, "no, my son hasn't been back here since he moved in with your family, are you sure he's not with one of your siblings? Or maybe even helping out your parents somewhere?"

 

"No, I checked all over the house, my mommy's on a mission so are my M.J.-nii and Shio-onee-chan," Narumi said starting to sound desperate.

 

"What about Ryu? didn't he come back from his mission yet, I know I used to see Shikamaru talking to him sometimes," Yoshino asked.

 

"No, no, no, Ryu's been out of the village since after my birthday, I don't know when he'll be back!" Narumi started to cry.

 

Yoshino was having a bad feeling coming up in the pit of her stomach, she had stopped looking for her son when she saw him at the party and wanted to talk to him, but he kept slipping away. She had finally decided to just wait until her son was older to try again, but now, as she heard the desperation in Narumi's voice, maybe it was time she took a look around again for herself. Yoshino knelt down in front of the little red head and looked into her crystal blue eyes, "nay, hay, don't cry, your a big girl now about to head off to the academy in a few months, ninja's don't cry." Narumi whipped her eyes and looked at the woman, "there you go, now, I'll tell you what, how about we look around the village for Naruto and Shikamaru together, two heads are better than one, what you say?"

 

Narumi smiled, "alright, we'll do it together."

 

* * *

 

* * *

 

 

_3 Weeks later in Uzu_

 

Naruto, Shikamaru, Hinata Hyuuga aka Hime (everyone agreed to call her Hime because having two Hinata's was confusing), Haku, and Gaara were being trained by Kurama and Hidi, while Menma, Kohaku, and Neko where learning a little about history from Shukaku, Hinata Kitsune taught everyone fuuinjutsu and kenjutsu whenever they weren't being trained or taught. E, the 3rd rikage, had left Killer B with to watch over the group while he and A went back to Kumo to get started on the paperwork needed to adopt Naruto, Shukaku and the other kids as his own. However, E and Kurama's relationship was still being worked on, although, A and Killer B got the sneaking suspicion that Kuramamy just end up as their 'mom' at some point, until then Kurama would be listed as a special jonin when they get to the village, as well as Shukaku since he _looked_ to be old enough to be at least 15 - 16 years out and the academy is for 7 - 11 year olds. 

 

When Hinata put the seal onto Naruto to filter out the overwhelming chakra, she discovered that he only became over whelmed was  _not_ by all the kage level chakra, but because he had been having nightmares of what happened on the day he got raped by a villager. The dreams had haunted him ever since that day and he barely slept in the past few months before leaving the village, yet now that he was out of the village, the nightmares seem to be getting worse. Naruto's dreams had gotten so bad that he had forgone sleeping entirely, with only short burst of sleep no longer than thirty minute to an hour every so often, this stress worked on his nerves so much that he would take just about any distraction he could get as long as he didn't fall asleep. The only reason why they didn't see the signs, was because Naruto had started wearing make-up to hid the dark circles under his eyes that would have made him look like Gaara's twin. But, thankfully, Hinata was able to fix that little problem, they had talked it over with Naruto and E, because he wanted to know and they would be family very soon. Hinata told Naruto that there was a way for him to not have the nightmares anymore, she would could either lock the memory of that even away for good, although if he was to ever met the person or was in a similar situation again, the memories would come back. Or she could whip that memory out of his mind forever, but at the same time, since the memory was from Konoha, she would need to whip his memory of his life there as well, meaning he would only remember his life and other events that happened outside of the leaf village. Also meaning that he would forget his mom, dad, sisters, and brothers that still lived within Konoha's walls, Neko, Menma, and Kohaku would still be within his knowledge, but only up until the point of them actually leaving the village.

 

Naruto thought long and hard about this, he didn't want to remember how his parents forgot him in the house four nearly half a year, he didn't want to remember them promising to never forget him again, but then end but doing so anyways. He didn't want to remember how happy he was to start cooking for his family and them to praise him for it, only to be chained to the kitchen to continue cooking for them like some servant. He didn't want to remember how the villagers treated him like dirt while his twin got treated like a princess just because she was 'the hero of konoha', even though they share the same burden. He surely didn't want to remember how they favored 'hero' when she didn't act like it, and he didn't want to remember how his so-called  _parents_ would take her side when she was clearly lying... for a brief moment he wondered when that all started. But the thing that wanted to forget the most was the rape, and how his parents did't seem to check the ally ways for him. Yes, he had seen them looking for him in town that evening while he was being raped right under their noses, he called out to them too,  _"mom! Help me! Please!"_ He had cried to Kushina who had stopped right in front of the scene of the crime, but what did she do? What did she do? I'll tell you what she did, she turned away and walked off, she didn't even see him! And THAT was what his nightmares were mostly about, him calling out to his mom or his dad as they passed by him, broken, beaten, bruised, and bloodied, the 4B's that he hated haunted him endlessly every single night, it was sickening. 

 

So without another word, he asked to forget. Everything to do with Konoha. His life there, how he was treated, why he wanted to leave, how he manged to stay there so long a fake smile on for his family to make them think that he was happy. He didn't know why he stayed so long hen he should have left, "I want to forget it, all of it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> leave a comment on how the story is going so far, ask question if you have any.


	10. Kumo

It's been about three weeks since they got to Uzu and started training, Kurama, being the little fox he was, trained the kids in taijutsu, taught them genjutsu, and some ninjutsu. Shukaku took pleasure in teaching the triplets, who were still too young to train, in history, he also taught the others the history of both humans and demons, tailed beast, the sage of six path (who he calls 'the old man'), and told them about all the wars that he's either been in or was around to see. Now it was the last day they were spending in Uzu and Naruto wanted to take another look around the place, he wanted to see if there were any scrolls that he could take so he could learn fuuinjutsu, and if they wanted to lean together in the future, that would be fine by him. 

 

Everyone was either packing things up to go, or was helping him look around. Naruto, Shikamaru, Haku, and Hinata (it Hinata Hyuuga because the other one went back home) were the main ones who were interested in learning about fuuinjutsu, while Gaara, who stayed back with Kurama and Shukaku, also wanted to learn a little on fuuinjutst, but stayed behind to watch the triplets. The triplets wanted to go with their big brother to explore the village again, but Naruto told them that he was only going to find jutsu scrolls and the like, not to play about, they were sad that they couldn't go too but perked up when Gaara said he was going to play with them. Gaara could control sand and make it as well, he just needed a soft patch of earth to turn into sand, Killer B helped with that by using some of his training methods to brake up the dirt, since Gaara didn't have anything to carry his sand around with him.

 

Anyways, Naruto and the others went into the abandoned village to look around again, they started their search in the smaller buildings first, Naruto used his shadow clone jutsu to help them look. They went from small buildings to big buildings all the while Killer B watched them from a distance. It was around noon when they made their way over to the tallest building, the kage tower, it was a beauty in vintage red stone that towed over everything, the highest point in the whole village. This tower was what Kurama used to train them to control their chakra after they passed the water and tree walking techniques, the small group of four found their way to the front door. On the first day that they arrived there, they couldn't get inside, but thanks to Gaara tripping over a rock while playing with the others and scrapping his arm, they found out that the said tanuki holder some how had Uzumaki heritage. It was by a complete accident the way they found out, after Gaara had scrapped his arm, he had leaned onto a door because he was out of breathe from all the running around, but imagine his surprise when the door swings open and a voice from within the building said, _Welcome, fellow Uzumaki",_ which actually scared the crap out of the poor insomniac. Naruto chuckled at the memory of Gaara running to Shukaku, who was near by, and jumped into his arms, shaking like a leaf. 

 

"What's so funny, Naru?" Asked Haku.

 

"Nothing, just remembering the time when Gaara found this door," Naruto chuckled

 

Shkamaru chuckled too, "yeah, I hear ya, I never thought that he would be scared of a door like that."

 

"Right," Naruto contained his giggles for another time, he bit his thumb then whipped it onto the swirl imprinted on the door. There was a soft clicking sound, barely audible, before the door opened.

 

 _"Welcome back, Prince Uzumaki,"_ said the voice from last time.

 

Hinata furrowed her eye brows, "didn't it say, 'welcome, fellow Uzumaki' last time?"

 

"Yeah, it did, I wonder why it changed this time?" Shikamaru looked at Naruto, "was Lady Kushina a princess here before she went to Konoha?"

 

Naruto turned back to him, he shrugged, "even if she was, she didn't tell me or anyone for that matter, I guess she didn't really care to." He turned back to the door, "But there's always a way to find out, now that we're here," he moved forward into the first floor (just image the hokage tower but covered in vines). Naruto found the stars, they seemed to be still new, in fact, everything within the tower seemed like it had just been left as is, almost like the people had just left for lunch and would soon return. He walked up the stares to find the kage office, the door was shut with another swirl on the door, just like the one outside. He put some blood on the door again before it opened, inside the office looked just like hokage office but instead of light brown hard wood floors, it was oak, the walls were a light brown with the ceiling matching the floor color. The ofice was bigger than the hikage's office, in stead of one desk, it had two of equal size across from each other on different sides of the room, and one larger on at the far back of the room in front the wide window. Naruto guessed that had to he the uzukage's desk while the other two were the desk of his helpers? Advisers? Naruto walked over to the bigest desk, he took a seat in the chair, his hand brushed a seal on the desk and book popped up from the wooden surface, curious as to what it held, he opened it and began to read for a bit.

 

Hinata and Shika smiled, they knew that once Naruto picked up book, he was dead to the world until he reached the end of it, they started walking out of the room, "where are you guys going?" Haku asked, "aren't you going to wait for him?"

 

Shika shook his head, "no way, once he sits down with a book grass can't grow where sits," he chuckled, "come on, lets go look around, he'll still be here when we come back."

 

Haku wasn't sure, but he knew that they knew the blond longer than him, so he followed them out. About an hour and a half went by, Hinata, Shika, and Haku came back to the uzukage's office to see Naruto still reading and Killer b was writing something down in his note book. "Huh? When did you get in here?" Shika asked, B didn't answer because he was also mumbling to himself as he wrote, the three sweatdropped at the older male.

 

Suddenly Naruto's head shot up, "hay guys, you wont believe this, it seems that Lady Kushina was a princess here," he said with a smile.

 

"Really?" Hinata said as they all walked over, except for B who was still writing.

 

"Really, but the uzukage didn't like her," Naruto said closing the book.

 

"Why not?" Haku asked.

 

"Well according to this book, all Uzumaki's liked to play pranks, you couldn't go a day in the village without finding someone that had been pranked once or twice that day. But even though they did pranks and joked around a lot, they still got things done, their mouton was 'family first always' and since the villagers were one and the same, I guess it worked out pretty well."

 

"But why didn't the uzukage like her?" Asked Hinata.

 

"Because she always took it too far," Naruto said with frown.

 

"How so?" Asked Shika.

 

"Well, this was actually the uzuakge's dairy, she recorded everything that lady Kushina did over the years before three out of the five nations attacked Uzu. It seems that not only were her pranks taken over the edge most of the time, most likely, someone would always end up really hurt or too badly injured to continue working for a while." Naruto twisted up his face in disgust, "there was even one incident were someone died," the others gasped and B looked up from his notes to look at the blond. "When the uzukage confronted Kushina about the accident, she said she didn't mean for anyone to die, the prank was meant to be funny, just something to just 'paint the town red for a day' as she put it, but it went wrong, very wrong."

 

"W-what was the prank? How was it supposed to work?" Asked Haku.

 

"It was a prank that would have taken all night, from what read, it would have taken alt ten hours to set up, but Kushina cut it down by just five minutes by using shadow clones. This prank was actually the way they had painted the village before when Uzu was first built, but for safety reasons, everyone had to be out of the village when it's set up, for at least three house max while doing wind jutsus to help dry the paint. However, what kushina did was that she set it up on a larger scale and included glitter in the paint, when she set off the prank the next morning, there was a lot of damage, people had to be rushed to a hospital that was quickly starting to over flow." He let out a sigh and leaned on his elbows on the desk, "out of everyone there, at least twelve children was temporarily blinded, and five kids permanently without sight in either one or both eyes."

 

"And the adults?" 

 

"For the adults, the type of paint she used, some had allergic reactions to the paint... most where able to block the paint from hitting them, but... there was one child. Um, he was about five or so, when the paint went off, he was the closest one to it, he had a weak immune system and couldn't get away fast enough. He was the one how died, but that wasn't the worst part..."

 

"What do you mean, Naruto?" Killer B asked, he didn't even rap it, he just said it, it surprised everyone for a second.

 

"The boy that died was named, Kumi Uzumaki, he was Kushina's little brother." 

 

"What did...What happened when she found out about her brother?" Shika asked.

 

Naruto picked up the book and opened it to a page and read out loud, "because Kushina Uzumaki had went so far with her resent prank, we have no choice but to banish her from the village. I know that she didn't mean to kill her baby brother, but because her pranks were increasing in danger, it would have been a matter of time before she had taken the life of someone else's child. For that reason, I'm sending her to Konoha to become a ninja of the village and also carry on the responsibilities of Mito Uzumaki as the Kyuubi jinchuriki, my only hope is that she will learn from her mistake to live up to the Uzumaki name as our princess." He looked up from the book to look at the others, "about a year this was written, the village was attacked by Kiri, Iwe, and Kumo, but Kumo didn't fight."

 

"Huh? If they were there for the attack, why didn't they?" Skia asked, Hinata and Haku also wanted to know.

 

"This was before my time, but from what I found out, Pops didn't go come here to attack Uzu, he brought his troops to help," It was B who answered the question, which surprised Naruto, as well as everyone else in the room.

 

"If Kumo went to the battle, why would they help? All the history books I read in Konoha says that Kumo also attacked Uzu along side Kiri and Iwa." Hinata said, "what changed?"

 

"Pops," said B, "when he found out that Uzu was about to be attacked by Kiri and Iwa, he led a army of Kumo ninja's to Uzu to help. He told me that years before the attack, some Uzumaki's found him when he was a little boy and helped him train to get stronger, way before he joined Kumo ranks, he had gotten separated from his parents a year before and got lost. He was wondering around near where the Uzumaki clan was camping out, they found him and helped him, after two years with the clan, he went to Kumo and became the next rikage, so when he found out that Uzu was being attacked, there was just no way that he could stand back and let it happen."

 

"Wait, if he helped the Uzumaki clan..." Shika raised his arms indicating to their surroundings, "where are all the other Uzumakis, besides the ones in Konoha, Naruto, his brothers, and now Gaara, I didn't see any other Uzumaki's here."

 

B nodded, "during the battle, Pops could see, that even with his help, there were only a few Uzumaki's that would survive the attack. If they continued to fight, they would be whipped out soon, so he met with the uzukage and told her this, she wasn't very happy about it, but she agreed to evacuating most of the Uzumaki's. As much as she wanted all Uzumaki's to get away safely, very few actually made it out alive, whether they're still alive now is questionable at best." he finished, seeing the depressed looks on everyone's face, especially Naruto's, he added, "but they are Uzumaki's, I'm sure they're alive somewhere, they spread out all over the elemental nations, I even saw a few of them on one of my missions outside the village." 

 

B walked over to Naruto and held his fist, Naruto looked up at him and smiled, he pumped fist with B, "thanks B."

 

B smiled, "what are brother's for, fool ya fool," he bumped fists with everyone else making them smile. "Alright, about we get back to the camp, yo the kiddies must want to prank, whee," he rapped with a big grin.

 

The kids giggled at the bad rapping, they were about to walk out the room when Naruto remembered something, "oh! Wait, there's in here that I want to check out."

 

The others looked at each other for a moment before shrugging their shoulders, they followed Naruto over to a wall a few yards away from the uzukage's desk. He bit his finger and put it on a portion on the wall, a white outline of a door lit up on the wall before it vanished to reveal a pathway with stairs leading up, which was odd to them because they were on top floor. Not sure what else to do, they started climbing the steps, they climbed the steps for ten minutes until they reached a door at the top step. Naruto, who was leading the way, reached out to the knob but stopped when a light fell upon his hand, he stayed like that for a few seconds before a loud  _click_ sounded through the stare case they were standing in. The door opened wide enough for them to see what was inside, the green light faded away then, Naruto looked back to the group before entering the room. Inside looked to be a dojo of sorts with weapons of different types:from kantans to gunbai, various other swords of all sizes, kunais, shurikins, a mini version of the chakra diffusion cannons, exploding tags, and other weapons that most of them hadn't seen before now.

 

"What is this place?" Haku asked.

 

"I think this maybe where the uzukage hid most of the weapons," Shika answered.

 

Naruto walked over to some gantlets, they were black with claws for fingers that were silver, he picked it up and put them on. They seemed a little too big for him to his disappointment, he was about to put them back when he saw a note where they gantlets were, he picked it up and read it. It was a letter from the uzukage, he started reading it out loud to everyone there.

 

_To the_ _surviving members of the Uzumaki clan._

_I can see that this will be the last time I may get to give you words of wisdom. In this room are my most precious collection of weapons, the ones that I used to protect the village, my most three most prized weapons are The Heavenly Winds G_ _unbai, The Angel Sword, and The Demon Gantlets. These three weapons helped me win many battles in the past and I can only hope that you can find a way to use them in your own way to win your battles, whatever they maybe. Now allow me to explain how these three weapons work, unlike normal weapons, they will only let you use their full power when they feel that your worthy and ready, I know many of you are wondering if these weapons are sentient when I said 'they will allow you to you their full power when they think your ready'. Well to be honest with you, at first, when you start using them, they may seem like an ordinary weapon, don't be fooled, these weapons are alive, they can't talk back like you nor I, but they are._

_First, The Heavenly Winds Gunbai, to use this weapon, you must have a caring heart and a strong will. If your heart is not caring in anyways for something, no matter what it is, the gunbai will reject you instantly. If you still try to use it after that, it will steal all your chakra and you will die. However, if you are pure of heart, but you will is not as strong, the gunbai will only steal bits of your chakra when you use it to fight, not enough to kill you, but enough so that the chances of winning become slim at best, this will continue to happen until the person strengthen their will to iron. Once the gunbai senses your will as changed, it will no longer steal you chakra but in turn give you strength when needed. The same goes for The Angel Sword, it would also help to have a affinity in either water or wind chakra to get even more out of the gunbai._

 

_As for the The Angel Sword, the wielder must have an affinity in earth chakra, wind or water chakra would help as well but is not really required. I have left a book on the fighting style I used whenever I would use The Angel Sword, it's a bit of a tough style for most. Some can use the style I used, but few master it, the style needs someone with agility, speed, fast reflex's and flexibility, if you can mast this style then you will become a powerful ninja in the future. The reason that The Angel sword needs someone with an earth affinity is because this sword was said to be a sword that was made from both heaven and earth, it was said that the hilt of the sword was made by Yami so he could make a weapon of pure evil. While Kami found out about this, he took the hilt before the evil sword could be finished, he then made the blade of the sword from a single angel's feather to balance out the in-pure powers of the swords. It was also said that anyone who wielded The Angel Sword, if their heart wasn't pure and will was weak, they would be taken over by the sword and go on a rampage, killing many people in their wake, my only warning to you is to be careful and use with caution._

 

_Lastly, The Demon Gantlets, also known as The Demon's Hands, this_ _weapon maybe the most powerful of all three. With this gantlet, the user will be able to use all the elements of chakra, but at a cost, if the wielder isn't strong enough, the gantlets will take control of the person and turn them into a demon of unimaginable power. I have also left a few books on how to use the gantlets, the previous wielders and how they over came the gantlet's powerful influence, and also the fighting style I made while using them. Be warned, the gauntlet is only as evil as you let it be, so be ware of the demon inside, it may try to way your good nature. The Demon Gauntlet was a gift to me by the Demn lord of the western lands, Taishou, himself. Anyways, my time draws near, I must go now._

 

_Sincerely Uzukage_

 

_Izaya Uzumaki_

 

Naruto looked up from the letter so see everyone, Hinata was holding a sword with a red hand that with red flame carved into it and there was a small silver skull missing it's jaw at the bass of the handle. The blade had carve to it that made it almost look like a feather, the left side of the sword looked to have more feather-like qualities, making the blade as a whole look soft to the touch. Shikamaru went to pick up the gunbai, it was near twice his size, thinking that it would only be slightly heavy, he tried to lift it but it wouldn't move, B walked over and picked it up with less trouble, he put it on his back before looking about the room. Naruto made note that the gunbai looked like the normal battle fan it was seemed to be, but it was colored in white and silver, the cama markings were replaced with the shapes of three small feathers going around in a half circle. Naruto looked around the room and saw a gourd, it was a light brown color with a red cloth going around it, it had the kanji for the word  _love_ in red markings on the side, he walked over to the gourd and looked inside, it was empty.

 

He looked at the tag next to it,  _"Earth style gourd, used for earth bast attack,"_ was what it said, he smiled, "this would be perfect for Gaara. He picked up the gourd, putting it on his back, he walked back over to the gantlets again and placed them into his sealing bag, he turned around to see everyone again, "is everyone ready?"

 

"Hmm, hay Naruto, you think it's okay if we take some of these?" Haku asked.

 

Naruto shrugged, "don't know, maybe, you see something you like?"

 

"Yeah, I think I see a few that I would like to try my hand with," Haku said looking around the room before turning back around to catch a scroll that Naruto tossed over to him.

 

"Okay, put any sharp or pointy ones into that sealing scroll, the ones that aren't pointy can go into the sealing bag," Naruto said. Pretty soon everyone was packing away weapons that they liked or wanted to try, Hinata wasn't sure about wanting to use The Angel Sword or not, but she defiantly wanted to try using The Heavenly Gunbai. Shika took a few of the explosive and a few books that was there on the different weapons that they were taking and wanted to learn about, he also took some books on how to make seals for battle and home made explosives, Naruto also had an interest on the subjects as well. They all left the room, they were going to leave the regular weapons, leaving them behind because they didn't think they would need it, but B said (in a very bad rap that I'm not even going to try to attempt) that they could use them to practice aim and accuracy, see no harm in it, they took the weapons and left. 

 

When they got down to the first floor and went out the door, they found Gaara and the triplets waiting for them, "Naruto, where have you guys been, we've been looking all over for you guys," said Gaara.

 

"Yeah nii-san, we've been ready for almost, uh... how long have we been ready?" Menma counted on his fingers for a second, because Shukaku had taught him how to read time on a clock and not the position of the sun yet.

 

Kohaku face palmed, because Kurama had taught him how to tell time from the sun, "almost two hours."

 

"Two hours! I could have sworn it was way longer than that!" Menma yelled.

 

Neko sighed at his brother's antics, "Naru-nii, what on your back?" He asked looking at his big brother.

 

"Hm? Ah! This is something for Gaara to use," Naruto said turning to Gaara.

 

"F-for me?" Gaara asked, because he's never gotten presents or gifts before now, Naruto nodded and handed over the gourd, "I-I don't know what to say, thank you," he said with tears in his eyes.

 

Naruto scratched the back of his head, "aww Gaara, you know you make the cutest faces when you cry," he somewhat tested the red head.

 

Gaara blushed with the tears in his eye, "sh-shut up...I'm not cute," his voice got softer at the end as he pouted, unknowing of how cute it was to Naruto, Hinata, and basically everyone else in the group.

 

"KAWAII!!!" Squealed Hinata as she wiped out her camera and started taking pictures of the adorable pout.

 

"Ack! Stop blinding me with your camera!" Gaara said shielding his eyes.

 

"Stop blinding us with your cuteness!" Naruto and Hinata said at the same time while everyone giggled, 

* * *

 

 

"So, since everyone is here,lets head off to Kumo, B, you said there will be something there that would help us across the water?" Kurama asked.

 

"No doubt, no doubt, it's a flip and a swim, this ship don't sink, yeah" Killer B rapped causing everyone else to sweatdrop.

 

"Riiiiight, so there's most likely a boat at the docks waiting to take us to Kumo once we get there, is that right?" Shukaku asked, some how understanding what B said.

 

B nodded, "okay lets get a move on, we're burning day light."

 

"Oh no, the sun is burning, hold on sun, we're coming," Menma yelled with anime tears coming down his face, he was about to take off in the wrong direction when Naruto wacked on the head making said boy pass out.

 

Naruto sighed as he picked up the down boy, "Shika, please make a list of all the things that I may need to beat into my little brother's head before he can becomes a hyperactive knuckle-head. Hyperactive I can stand, knuckle-head, I don't think so," he said slightly irritated,  _"seriously, what happened to this kid when I wasn't with him? It's like he must have fallen on his head when he was a baby or something."_ Unbeknownst to Naruto, after the triplets were born, Kushina had accidentally dropped Menma was he was only three months old, it was only through his Uzumaki blood and his parents being ninja's that the kid didn't die right then and there. "We might as well get going while he's asleep." The group nodded and got on there way, they made it to the docks in three days, there was a boat that would take them to Kumo, they were to reach Kumo within three weeks time, but the winds were in their favor so they made it to Kumo in no less than two weeks.

* * *

 

 

The rikage, when everyone arrived, planned a feast and a tour around the village, he showed them where the ninja academy was, they went out for dongo's and tea, Nnaruto's number one favorite (ramen is his second favorite). They walked around some more, upon entering the shopping district, they stopped at a few stores to get everyone some new clothes. Hinata was so happy to finally get out of boy's clothes that she charged into each store so fast that it rivaled Minat's famed jutsu, the Flyine Thunder God. Every one raced to catch up with her, she was like a tornado as she went through the store, but she made sure that she never left a mess. It became clear that shopping for cute things was Hinata's other weakness, aside from taking pictures of cute moments. Once Hinata was done looking for things for herself, she proceeded shop for everyone else, she 'cutefied' all the boys, and helped Kurama look for things to 'to look _professional_ ' for the rikage, as he put it, Hinata knew what he meant. 

 

When everything was done, they went up to the rikage's office to quickly finish the paperwork needed. Somewhere along the way Kurama and E had disappeared for almost an hour before coming back to the office, kurama's clothes was rumpled while his hair was a little messy, E walked in with a smile on his face while Kurama was slightly blushing. Naruto and Shika could only guess what happened between the two, Shika more than Naruto, since he forgot the experience he had that day in the ally way, but he still had a pretty good idea. Mainly because he had walked in on them once while they were still in Uzu before the rikage and A left, Naruto had shuddered at the memory. By the time they left the office, Naruto, Hinata, Gaara, Haku, Menma, Kohaku, Neko, Shikamaru, and Shukaku were the younger brothers and sister of A, Killer B, and Yuugito Nii, and the sons and daughter of E and Kurama, while Kibo and Jin were the family pets.

 

Kurama and E just decided that they might as well try the married life since they could not keep their hands off of each other, when they told the kids, no one was surprised, Kurama mopped in the corner because he wanted it to be a surprise but got over it. However, he got over it when he announced that he was pregnant during dinner, it shocked everyone but Hinata, because she already was told while they were shopping, they were so shocked that they froze, they were frozen long enough for Hinata to get up from the table, set up a timer on her camera, and get back to the table in time to take a group photo of everyone's reaction. She then took a selfie with her and Kurama pointing to the rikage, indicating that he was the father, the second f

 

"What?!" Everyone had yelled at the expecting fox man.

 

Kurama gave them a big smile, "yep, I'm having your little brother or sister."

 

Naruto looked at E and Kurama, "uh, Kurama....um" he said as E started come out of his shock.

 

"Yes, kit, what is it?" Kurama asked.

 

"Does this mean that your our Mama now, Papa?" Neko asked the question his brother was trying to asked himself.

 

"Uh, in a way, yes, but you can still call me Papa, if you don't mind," Kurama said.

 

Neko smiled brightly, "okay Mama!" He said then went back to eating.

 

A was at a loss for words, so be spoke instead, "brothers and sisters, a hearts delight, with a new mom, my night takes flight, fool ya fools," he rapped with a smile.

 

"Mhm, this is good news, we should celebrate with cake!" Shukaku said, mostly because he wanted cake, everyone stared at him for a minute.

 

"I'll make it!" Naruto said rushing off from the table to the kitchen.

 

"I'll help!" Shika said running off after Naruto.

 

"We'll help too!" Said the triplets.

 

"Party in the kitchen, yea yeah," B said following the kids into the kitchen.

 

Hinata gasped as she watched them go, "the triplets may make a mess, I have... no!" She shot up from the her seat with her camera in hand, "I MUST CATCH IT ON CAMERA!" Then she ran off into the kitchen.

 

Haku looked at Gaara, they shrugged their shoulders, "might as well join them."

 

Shukaku jumped ten feat into the air, "Cake!" He yelled and dashed into the kitchen in mid air, defying the laws of gravity.

 

A shook his head as he stood up, "and where are you going son?" Asked E.

 

"I'm going to make sure that they don't burn anything down or blow something up with all the people that went in there," A said as he walked over to the door that led to the kitchen. "Oh and dad," A turned to look at his father.

 

"Yes son?" E asked.

 

"Try not to make another one before this group graduates the academy," A said knowing that it wasn't possible.

 

E grinned and chuckled, he put a hand over Kurama's, making said man blush, "that's a tall order son, but we'll try."

 

A hung his head knowing that would have been the answer, "figures," he said walking into the kitchen with a rain cloud over his head. The first thing he saw when he walk into the kitchen, was B teaching Menma and his brother how to rap, he sighed, the older sibling responsibilities were all on him now. The two left at the table laughed at his misfortune, since they heard the bad rapping. 

* * *

 

 

**Back in Konoha**

 

_1 Year later_

 

Narmi had been asking around for where her brother was, but no one had seemed to notice that he wasn't there, no one but Narumi. A month after searching the village for Narut, because they knew that he didn't have any training by his parents to escape the village by himself, and Shikamaru barely had any clan training himself. Once the month came to an end, they decided to get the hokage, Minato, involved. He had quite the shock after giving birth to his newest kids, something went wrong with the seal, not in a bad way, no, it was all good, however after giving birth to what he thought would have been twins again, he got a set of quadruplets! Minato was happy to have so many at one time, but he was mad at the same time, it turns out that for the seal he used not only can meld three people's DNA to make one child, there was also a very high chance for multiple births. He thought it would be just two or three, but not four! What made him really mad was the fact that Kushina knew that he would be having so many and planned ahead for it, he was so mad that he hadn't talked or slept with Kushina for a whole year after the four babies were born. Now that it's been a year, he started talking to Kushina again, but he still refused to sleep with her, whether it be in the same room or bed, his trust of her sexually was  _very_ low still. The two had also been so busy trying to take care of the quadruplets that they just  _barely_ made it to an hour of sleep at night, which made them kinda delirious most of the time, Inoichi had to come over to give them a mental health check a few times to make sure that it was because of the babies and not because of something else.

 

Shio, M.j., and Ryu tried to help them out as much as they could when they were off of missions. Minato had even started commissioning new genin squads to take some of the responsibilities so he could get at least two hours of sleep. He had just  _cried_ one day when he saw the first genin team that would take the first shift, not to mention he had _worshiped_ Kakashi when he got  _all four_ babies to stop crying for an hour. An Hour! Minato was to happy that he broke down in front of his former student crying as he watched the scene play out, he thought it was a genjutsu, even if it was he didn't, they were quite. When Kakashi saw his former sensei crying, he felt really uncomfortable, it was weird to see a grown man cry, but then he put the tired my to bed and went on his way, Narumi remembered that day well. She had walked in on her dad crying on the floor, a man with gravity defying hair trying to get him to stop, it was the weirdest scene that she had ever walked in on, so doing what any other sensible person would do, she slowly back out of the room to let thing play out. From that day on, genin teams had been going to the house to take care of her little brothers and sister, she thought about her new siblings for a minute, she thought that they were the cutest things on the earth, but she didn't like all the attention they were getting. Her father had three boys and one girl this time around:

 

Kaji, a boy, blond hair, blue eyes like their father.

Ami, a girl, blond hair, blue eyes looks like their mother's face.

Arashi, a boy, blond hair, green eyes like their mother but with his other father's face.

and Inojin, blond hair, green eyes, and look the other father.

 

Narumi didn't know why two of the quadruplets looked like Inoichi, but she didn't bother to ask because she knew that her had wouldn't hurt her mom like that. When they told Minato that Naruto couldn't be found within he village, he looked at them as if they had lost their marbles, he called all of his available ANBU and told them to look for his son. 

 

**Flash back**

 

_"Is everyone here? Good, I want all of you to go out and find my son," Minato said, the ANBU in front of him hesitated for a second, which he noticed, "what's wrong?"_

 

_"Uhm, Lord Hokage, forgive my rudeness but, which one of your sons would you like us to track done for you? Seeing as how one of them is here with us right now," said an ANBU with a cat mask._

 

_Minato blinked for a moment in surprised, he squinted his eyes at the ANBU members who were in front of him, he had just woken up when he called them here so his brain was still half asleep from all the lack of pills. He also couldn't take coffee in any form because his Namikaze pregnancy bloodline wouldn't allow him to, this added to his ever growing hatred he had for said bloodline, subconsciously he growled out making some of the ANBU go on the defensive, he really liked coffee now more than ever since the triplets were born. "Naruto, I want you to find, Naruto."_

 

_"Do you have a picture we can go off of?" Asked dog mask guy._

 

_Minato growled again, "blond hair, with curls, whisker marks on his cheeks, has blue and green eyes, somewhat looks like a girl for some reason, and HAS THE YANG HALF OF THE KYUUBI SEALED WITH IN HIM!!! HOW do you NOT know what he LOOKS LIKE?! Yelled the hormonal Namikaze in rage while leaking massive amounts of KI._

 

_Dog-san bowed his head, "my apologies, Lord Hokage, we just haven't seen much of him since he turn three, sir."_

 

_"Stop apologizing and LOOK FOR MY SON!" Minato yelled._

 

_Yes sir!" Said the ANBU before disappearing_

 

_Kushina came in then, "Minato, you shouldn't get so worked up, it's n-"_

 

_"Oh shut up Kushina, I want to calm down but I can't, you want to know why? Because my systems are over flowing with hormones from caring FOUR FUCKING CHILDREN for nine damn months, going through a twenty-one hour labor, and the mere fact that I can't have caffeine for a whole other YEAR because-"_

 

_"HAY! Don't blame this on me! I'm not the one who forced you to spr-"_

 

_"NO! You were just the one who got me and Inoichi super drunk, then you drugged us up, making sure you gave HIM something to make him RAPE ME!"_

 

_Kushina gasped at the accusation, "where's your proof?!"_

 

_"I have at least four up stars and two more being tested in the lab, don't test me Kushina, I'M, NOT. THE ONE," Minato then stopped out of the room, leaving behind a fuming Kushina, a confused Narumi, and a unconformable Yoshino, seeing as how they had been there the whole time._

 

**Flashback end** _  
_

 

Six months later, they still had no leads, they expanded their sear further out, they hadn't gotten anything yet. Now it's been a whole year since Narumi noticed that her brother wasn't really on strike, she had entered the academy almost seven months ago now, she was wondering when they would find her brother, or if they ever would.  _"Poor otuoto, he must be so lonely and cold out there all on his own, I hope that nothing bad had happened to him,"_ thought Narumias she stared out her window.

* * *

 

* * *

 

 

_The week after Naruto and the others had arrived in Kumo_

 

_A month and 1 week since they left Konoha_

 

 After a week of being in Kumo, taking in the sites, going out to eat at the local restaurants, buying things for new baby and planing a wedding between Kurama and E, because Hinata always wanted to go to a wedding. The others was wasn't really interested at first, but after thinking about how much of a family were becoming, the wedding would seal the deal, so they helped out. Naruto and Shikamaru were on food and cake duty, Haku took care of the seating arrangement, with help from A, B was charged with getting the music set up, but he could only do one rap performance at the wedding, the triplets were on decoration duties, with help from Shukaku, under the watchful eye of Kurama. Hinata was the flower girl, Yugito was the maid of honor, A was the best man while be would groomsman, Shukaku would give Kurama away as the bride, E was the groom of course, Neko would be the ring-barer because Menma was to hyper to stay still and Kohaku was scared of big crowds, and everyone else would just be there taking pictures to saver the moment. Now, as ninja's, they did jutsus like multi shadow clone jutsu and earth style jutsu so they could lessen the amount of time it took to set things up for the wedding, it took them a total of a month and a half to get everything ready for the event.

 

It was now the day of the wedding, it was set up for late in the evening around sunset, Haku and Hinata had both agreed that Kurama would look grate in the light of the setting sun. The groom wore the traditional black kimono and gray hakama, but instead of black it was a dark green to match his eyes, the best man the groomsman wore a dark orange version of that outfit, the maid of honor wore a bright orange traditional kimono that faded into a bright yellow at the bottom. Her obi was white with a red sting going around the middle with a patter of paw prints going in a diagonal line up to the obi. The flower girl wore a light pink kimono in the same style as the maid of honor, but hers was faded into white towards the bottom with a pattern of butterflies, the ring-barer had the same set of clothes as the others, but his was a light red the triplets all had on the same colors. It was getting close to the time for the wedding to start so everyone took their seats, meaning close family and friends of E, A, and B, plus the few friends that Naruto and the others had made since coming to Kumo and their families. It wasn't a full room, but good enough for them to be happy with the turn out.

 

Hinata had someone there to take pictures of everything while she was doing her part in the resection, she wanted to the one to take pictures, but Kurama widdled her down to do it after. After a minute, the music started playing and it was time for the bride to come out, Shukaku came out first wearing a darker version of the kimono that the girls were wearing, but his a dark purple with swirling wind patters in a diagonal line, his hair had somehow grown out all the way down to his mid back which allowed him to style it into a tasteful bun. A purple flower holding it in place, as he walked out there whispers of 'she looks good', not knowing that the 'she' they were talking about was actually a guy. Next came Kurama, he wore a show stopping bright red and orange kimono that was so long it trailed behind him a little, his slippers were half a foot tall, black with red straps, E was still taller than him though. He wore a white long sleeved jacket that flowed around him as he walked, (think of the captions jacket from bleach but much longer) it showing yellow on the inside. It stretched all the way down to the floor to trail behind him for a good two and a half feet, where it it was being held by Kohaku and Menam, holding up a corner of the jacket, respectively and had a light orange nine tailed fox one it surrounded by butterflies of every color of the rainbow. Kurama's hair was always long, but today it was longer, almost reaching his waist now, the top half was pulled into a professional bun held by two chopsticks sticking out towards the left side and a golden bell was hanging from one, while the rest of his hair flowed around him in waves of red. 

 

Naruto, Shikamaru, Gaara, and Haku stood around with everyone else as well, E thought that it wasn't right for them to put in so much work to not be apart of everything they worked for. So, Shikamaru and Gaara stood next to B, matching his clothes, while Naruto and Haku were forced into wearing kimonos by Hinata, Naruto's kimono was a baby blue that faded into white, with paw prints. Haku's kimono was a darker pink than Hinata's, fading into white with butterflies, his hair was wrapped into a bun and covered by a pink cloth that matched his clothes, while Naruto's hair was pulled back into a curly pony  that looked like a curly bun.

 

Kurama made it to the alter, he turned and fave his brother a quick hug before turning back to the guy that was going marry the fox off to the rikage, "who here give this bride away?"(I don't know how they get married in Japan, so we're doing it American style, kinda).

 

"I do," said Shikaku, his voice had manage to change into a feminine one for this occasion, A was still a little freaked out that Shukaku could do that at will.

 

The guy nodded, "very well," (I also haven't been to many weddings in my life so bare with me)

 

Shukaku gave his brother another hug before going to his seat, E held out his hand to Kurama, who took it, and helped him up the two steps. When he was standing next to E, Kohaku and Menma took there place next to Neko, who was in front of Naruto. The marring guy read some stuff from his book and then asked for vows, "do you have anything you would like to say to each other at this time?" They nodded, "then you may speak now."

 

E started, "Kurama, I know that we haven't know each other very long, but I feel as though we have know each other for a thousand years," some of the kids held back their giggles at the irony. Kurama gave them a sharp look, they shut up and E continued, "where ever you have been all my life, I wish I had been there with you, to help you through the lone times. The sad times, to be you light when it got dark, and to never leave your side, even when I die. I love you and I'm grateful I have finally found you."

 

Then it was Kurama's turn, "E, our time may have been short, but I know our lives will be long and filled with happiness. I know that there will never be a dull moment," someone in the crowed whispered  _'with that many kids, she'll wish for a dull moment'._ Kurama heard this with his enhanced hearing and smiled, "and if times do get dark, then we'll stumble around together," some of the kids in the crowd giggled at the thought of the rikage stumbling around in the dark. 

 

The marrying guy nodded once the vows were down, "very well, do you, Lord Rikage, take Kurama Kitsune, to be your wedded wife?"

 

"I do," said E.

 

"And do you, Kurama Kitsune, take Lord Rikage, to be your wedded husband?" 

 

"I do," said Kurama.

 

"Then by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife, you may now kiss the bride."

 

"No tong, _sis_ , there are children present!" Shukaku said chuckling from the crowd, everyone laughed.

 

"Hmph, it's not your wedding, is it?" Kurama said in a huff before turning back to kiss E,  _with_ tong, the kids in the room went 'eww' before E and Kurama finally parted lips. 

 

The after party started soon after, B did his "Enka Rap" for all to hear, without being interrupted for once, it started off bad as usual, but towards the end it started to sound good. Either that or their ears had just got broken by how much bad rapping they were exposed to. The cake that Naruto and Shikamaru made looked like the best wedding cake in the world, so good that words could not describe it, after one bit, Naruto and Shikamaru were offered jobs at bakeries as well as requests for other events like, birthday parties, sleep overs, or more weddings. The two were so overwhelmed by the requests that their mother and father, the newly married Kurama and E, had to save them, E told the crowd that any request that is being made must be made at least one day in advanced. Hinata was offered a job to take pictures at events and such, she was thrilled to do it, Haku and Gaara was approached to become event planers, Haku accepted as well as Gaara. However, everyone was made a ware that the jobs would all be part time because E had already enrolled them into the ninja program, which started the following week after the wedding. 

* * *

 

 

_3 years later: Kumo_

 

 

Shikamaru, Naruto, Hinata, Gaara: 11

 

Haku and Yuugito: 12

 

Menma, Neko, Kohaku: 6

 

It has been a wonderful four years living in Kumo, Naruto, Hinata, Yuugito, Haku, Gaara, and Shikamaru all entered the academy and had lots of fun there. Menma, Kohaku, and Neko all started their training after their third birthday, they just couldn't wait until they four to start. Unlike the academy in Konoha that would teach history for about two years with some sparing mixed in before getting to the good stuff, in Kumo's academy  they would learn useful things like ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu, kenjutsu, and about different weapons that can be used in different ways and how to use them. They also learned how to make explosives by adding chakra to the mix, Shikamaru and Naruto took a real shin to making explosions since they like making things, they became master bomb makers after they turned nine. Everyone called them The Bomber Brothers, they also discovered the art of painting to be really cool as well, but their canvas was always much bigger than some peace of paper, no most of the time they would  _paint_ a large area that wasn't being used that day. It usually ended up being a unused training field, the next day when someone come to train, they were greeted by the beautiful sight of Shika and Naru, it was so beautiful that most of the time people would try to find another area to use to train, but by the end of the third year, all training grounds were hit, although the duo told everyone that they could still train there because the paint would have dried by now.

 

Some people didn't think they should, but when a few people actually took their word for it, they found a surprise waiting for them, under the paint were seals filled with traps and weapons that would refill/reset themselves at the end of the day and switch locations every few hours so the attacks weren't predictable. When the news spread about the painted training fields improvements, all the training grounds were in use again in no time flat. Hinata always made sure to get pictures of their art before the training grounds were used again, adding it to the scrap book collection. Naruto and Shikamru's creation skills in the kitchen and with the bombs were highly regarded as the best of the best, they could make any kind of food or bomb, paint, gas, flash, pepper, stink, explosive? You name it, they can make it, their work was so good that people started to request their bombs as much as their food, Hinata even came up with a cute way to let people know what bomb was what, and the duo agreed to teach some of the students that were interested in bomb-making to improve their fighting style. Speaking of Hinata, she was given the name of Sneaky Eye because of how she could take pictures of people doing something, whether it be ordinary or ninja related, she got them on camera wherever they tried to hid. She even invented a camera, with some help of Naruto, Shikamaru and Gaara, she made a camera that worked with some chakra and her byakugan, she named it Peek-a-Boo, because no matter where that person hid, she found them.

 

The grate thing about Peek-a-Boo was that helped with her own weakness, in fact it would help with all byakugan users. It was a well kept secret that the bone that sticks out in the back of everyone's neck is a Hyuuga's one blind-spot, it was a small blind spot, but a weakness none the less. If a person was able to get an arrow to hit that one spot, they would win the fight, BUT with Peek-a-Boo, Hinata could put chakra into the camera, the chakra would fall around her acting as not only a barrier, but as an extension of her eyes. With this camera in play, as long as there is chakra in the camera, and it's activated, Hinata wouldn't even need to use her byakugan on a far away enemy, it's was only in close quarter combat that they would need it. Not to say that the camera wasn't perfect, it was, but it was like a water bottle, once the water is gone, it's gone until you can refill it, but other than that, the camera was every useful for scouting. A person could go to sleep with the camera on and still be able to see what was happening in the world around them, this mode is a specialty that Hinata thought us when she found out about Gaara not being able to sleep because his seal was _purposefully_ faulty, the term "sleep with one eye open" came to her mind and she thanked Gaara for giving her the idea. 

 

This mode of the camera was put into play once the user of the camera went into REM sleep, after putting chakra into the camera so it would allow the person to see all around them, all the user has to do is fall asleep and the camera would extend the barrier outwards in a dome like shape. Also, if the user wanted, she could take the stress off her eye, because this mode does tier someones eyes out after a few hours in this mode, but only if it's it been more than five hours, if she allows someone from her team take over the next five house, then her eyes wont feel tired when she wakes up. The way this works is that the person that Hinata chooses would be allowed temporary but also full use of the camera until she wakes up, she called this mode, The Sandman's Eye, because of Gaara, who is the only other person that she allows full use of the camera's functions when needed. But Hinata is not the type to just allow a camera to do all the work for her, no! While they were in their first year at the academy, she was placed into her first real taijutsu match with someone that wasn't either a Hyuuga, or a member of her new family, she had lost the match and that prompted her to training her taijutsu skills further that it already was at that point, she also took up other taijutsu styles until she made up her own style which she calls Hidden Fist. The Hidden Fist technique was a style that involved speed, agility, and some acrobatics, it sues fast movements to strike and disable a person, it could also be used for attack, turning all the disabling hits into deadly ones. Those foolish enough to get this girl mad would regret it soon enough, and let's not forget her gunbai skills.

 

Along with her taijutsu skills, doujutsu, ninjutsu, kenjutsu, even though she doesn't use a sword that much to fight she still knows a thing or two about it, and also a small know-how on genjutsu, her skill with a gunbai was legendary. After coming to Kumo and settling in, Hinata went to the library to find books on gunbai fighting techniques, she found a small array of them, much to her displeasure, so she read what she could on the matter and made her own style. She became well know around the village, and even outside the village whenever she went on missions, as The Heavenly Winds Gunbai user, it was after one rough mission that suddenly changed from an easy C ranking, to a whopping _almost_ S rank mission with Killer B and A as her only back up. They were outside the village escorting some rich guy to the land of tea, which was very far away from Kumo, but the guy had come from a conference and already had an attempt on his life, since Kumo was closer than Konoha, he went there. Hinata was curious about going and did the puppy dog eye thing to get E to let her go. E knew about how good she was getting, but he also knew that she didn't want to go back to Konoha since the hokage had finally noticed that not just his son was missing, but others were too, after a whole year I might add. So E let her go on this mission, even though they would be passing through Fire Country, but he made her promise to wear a clock and mask so her identity wouldn't be accidentally discovered, Hinata agreed to these terms as long as she got a cute mask. While on this mission, that would take near a month to complete because the rich dude was the type of civilian to just stop and look at just about everything they passed, Hinata taking pictures wasn't helping much, they wouldn't get to their destination as soon as A would have liked. But A wasn't worried about how long the mission would take after they had been ambushed by twice by over a dozen bandits and crossed paths with a group of head hunters, they made it out of there alive thanks to the team efforts of A, Killer B, and Hinata aka The Angel of Death, or just H Wing for short.

 

It was only her second year at the academy, but with all the training that he saw all of them put in, not just Hinata, to get them this far, he thought that she deserved to see the outside walls of the village. The other kids pouted about it until he gave them missions as well, plus a mask of there choosing because both Konoha and Suna was looking for the runaway kids, Haku also got a mask but mainly because the others persuaded him to take one. They all went on mission that started from D rank, some went up to C or B rank, and there was one that turned into a SS rank with all of them there, except for Shukaku, the triplets, and their new born sister, Maya. This mission, E had a feeling that he would die on this mission, he thought that he would brake his promise he made to Kurama about being there by his side forever, he thought that he wouldn't be able to see A take his hat, or see Naruto take the hat after. He thought he wouldn't see the day that Hinata and Haku finally realize that they like each other, even though it was clear to everyone else that Haku liked the girl and she liked him back, He thought he wouldn't see the day that Gaara finally confessed his true feelings to Naruto, even though the boy was smart, he clueless in love. He thought that he wouldn't see the day that Menma, Neko, Kohaku, or even Maya enter the academy to follow in their brother and sisters foot steps, he thought he wouldn't see the day that Yuugito finally found to one she could fall in love with. And he thought he wouldn't see the day that all of his kids climbed the ranks from genin, to chunin, to jonin and maybe even split up into special jonin or enter the ANBU ranks to protect the village like he had.

 

He thought all this and more with a heavy heart, there was an arm of Iwa ninja's closing in on their location. They had come out of no where and the chances of escaping with his family seemed slim, he had turned to them, intending to say his final goodbye's to them when he saw....

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oops cliff hangers, what ya going do, right? Well I just came to a sudden wall at this point and needed a brake so I could think, plus I have other stories to update, but I'll be back soon.


	11. Getting ready for the fight

 Ever since Naruto, Shikamaru, Haku, Hinata, and Gaara came to Kumo, they've been singing new ways to improve themselves all the time. 

 

Since Shikamaru came to Kumo, he's found a deep passion for music that he never knew he had. His love for music was the only thing that could ever calm him down whenever he got the urge to blow things up, E quickly found this out and put him on the Kumo demolition team. Whenever, he did need to blow something up, E made sure Shikamaru had on set of headphones that was specially designed just for him, created by Gaara and Naruto, and styled by Hinata to match his personality. Shikamaru had also Incorporated his love for music with the Nara clans Shadow Paralysis jutsus making it his own, he made a fighting style with it called Melody of the Shadows. With his specially made headphones, when he puts chakra in them, he could turn his favorite song into a weapon to use against his enemies. He even has a special jutsus he made that took his Shadow Stitching and turned it into a shadow sword,  this sword, if an enemy is hit by it, their hearing will go into hyper sensitive, this was the gate way for Shikamaru so that he could filter out his music into their surrounded and blow out the enemy's ear drums. He would only have trouble doing this jutsus if the person was already def. This jutsu can also mess with a person's eyes, with a high enough pitch, he could make a person go blind temporarily.

 

Since Naruto came to Kumo, he also found a love for music, but not as deep as Shikamaru. Naruto had taken more to bombing things, but at a more controlled level than Shikamaru, Naruto, mostly liked to use his bombs for painting and such. However, he still likes to blow things up for the fun of it, like Iwa's mad bomber Dedara, but he doesn't do it because "art is an explosion", no it's just fun for him, pluses it's a good stress releaser. Along with his meny uses for bombs like Shikamaru, Naruto fell in love with The Demon Gantlets, since he had an affinity in all five elements, the gantlets became easier to use. Using all the skills and jutsus head leaned during all three years in Kumo, he managed to come up with his own style of fighting as well, calling it The Elemental Force. All though Naruto's two colored eyes are not a normal site to see, they are in fact normal, BUT since he started training with The Demon Gantlets, his eyes had changed. Without the gantlets on, his eyes were still seen as it's blue and green form, but with the gantlets on, his pupils slitted to become more cat like in appearance, after about a year of training with the gantlets, they stayed like that, giving him the ability to see further and with more details than the Byakugan. His eyes also had night vision, witch an make the darkest of nights look like a bright summers day, he named his eyes The Seeker, because they could also tell a person's chakra levels with one glance, and sometimes, when he felt like it, he could see through walls and stuff, no big deal. He named the gantlets Ashira, for his left one, and Indra, for his right one, because just like the two, they were him and yang.

 

With Hinata, after training with The Heavenly Winds Ganbai, her hair turned from a black with a purple ish tint, to a silver white. Her eyes turned a dark purple. (Plus everything I said in last chapter) she also named her Ganbai Rubi.

 

Haku found a love for sealing, with in two years he became a seal master, the other others liked sealing too, but only Haku, Kohaku, and Hinata mastered it. Haku also learned medical ninjutsu from the other Hinata (Kitsune), she taught him everything she knew on the subject, some even said that her knowledge rivaled that of slug sannin, Tsunade. Due to Haku having not only a water and wind affinity from his bloodline, he had a strong earth affinity as well, which some thought was odd but cool for him to have it. They decided to give The Angel Sword to him because his earth affinity was stronger than the others, except for Naruto, he was on level with Naruto's own earth affinity. Like Hinata, Haku's hair changed color to a mix between silver and platinum blonde, depending on how the light is hitting him when you see him, his eyes also changed to a golden-amber type look, his eyes was once said to hypnoties a group of well trained shinobi. Funny enough, after training with the Angel Sword for half the year, he gained that ability, E and Kurama figured that the weapons they got from Uzu was the cause for these changes and didn't freak out about it after they saw both Hinata and Haku's hair change, and along with Naruto, the three's eyes changing was less of a surprise. With Haku's sealing mastery, he became known as The Ghost Needle Caption, because he was able to draw place a seal anywhere that would quickly shoot out needles when a certain amount of chakra came near the seal. He named the sword Elsa, because the cold never bothered him anyways (lol xD).

 

With Gaara, he found that using his new gourd that Naruto gave him from there time in Uzu, made it easier to carry around his sand that he usually use, he has a strong earth and wind affinity. Hinata also came up with the idea of putting a seal on his gourd that would make more stand for him to use in a battle, this seal would essentially gather up dirt and other things from the earth that could be turned into stand. Gaara didn't go under a lot of physical changes during past three years, he mostly got a little taller and he grew his hair out, now it barely touched his shoulders, he also secretly named his Naru after the one who gave him said gourd. Pluses Gaara had sort of an obvious crush on said blonde, it was more obvious than Haku's crush for Hinata, but that's neither here nor there.

 

Their affinities:

 

Shikamaru- shadow, wind, water, and lightening.

Haku- water, wind, earth and lightening.

Hinata- water, wind, lightening, and fire.

Gaara- wind, earth and lightening.

Naruto- water, wind, earth, fire, lightening, and somehow shadow too.

 

During their second year, E and Kurama had another child, a boy, who they named J. The triplets, Kohaku, Neko, and Menma, all turned four and thus began their training with the help of Shukaku, A, Killer B and others, there was never a dull moment in Kumo again after that. The trio learned all the basics first, tree walking and water walking, then they did the floating leaf exercise and the spinning kunai exercise. While Kurama couldn't get up and show them how everything was done, he did plan out a workout routine that would push  _everyone_ to their limits and then break those barriers down so they could go even further in their training. No one was spared from Kuramas's hellish workout plan, no one, not even E, and he's the damn rikage! By the end of the year, the triplets were able to walk on the ceiling, Naruto, Shikamaru, Hinata, Gaara-, and Haku could now fight two or three battles in a row with little rest of needed.

 

A big thing that happened after the first year in Kumo was a ritual called Blood Bonds. Kurama was the one who came up with the idea, it was like the regular bonding ritual that Naruto and Shikamaru did with Kibo and Jim respectively, only this bonding allowed two people to be related to each other by blood, if the name didn't give it away already. However, this bonding could be dangerous of the two involved don't really care for each other or think of one another as family, if that were the case, one or both parties involved would be... _erased._ Thankfully that wasn't the case here. When the blood bonding was down those involved gained a lightening affinity, plus a nice tan look to there skin. Shikamaru, Haku, and Hinata's hair got a slight wave to it, and it got a little longer too, it now reached past his shoulders. Naruto's hair got less curly, but was still very curly, his hair grew out to bounce around his shoulders and frame his face, which became more round and also got lighter. Gaara's hair turned a blood red as it grew all the way to his shoulders, both his and Haku's hair took on a silky texture, while Shikamaru, Hinata and Naruto's hair had a soft and flawless look to it. After the bonding, Menma and Kohaku's eyes took after Naruto and Nemo's eyes, one stayed blue or green, while the other changed to blue or green (because I forgot which eye colors I gave them xP), their hair also became just as curly as Naruto's with lighter shades for all three of them. Kurama also took part in the process, mostly to become their blood 'mother', with his DANA added to the mix, they all got a boost in their chakra reserves that went beyond any Uzumaki.

* * *

 

 

**Back in Konoha**

_3 years after Naruto and the others left_

 

it was... Well it looked the same, but for the Namikaze family, things were... Chaotic. They actually had twelve children all together, who told them to have so many, no one can say, but twelve was a large number to have concerning children and you weren't a teacher. This number was alarming to the other villagers when some of them actually stopped and counted all of them, some wondered how and why their hokage manged to have so may running around. They wondered how it was possible for their hokage to still keep seine when he had so many, and only three were old enough to take care of themselves or move out if they wanted to. One was a jonin, one was an ANBU, and the other just made chunin, and all three were swamped in mission request, so they were barely ever home. The fourth oldest child was still in the academy and needed to focused on their training, which, by the way, wasn'tseeing very much results. There were four children that were still too small to do anything on their own yet, and another four that the villagers hadn't seen in almost over three years. What was going on? It was no secret that Minato Namikaze was sanding people to his estate to take glcare of his four youngest, the civilian council had even called him on it.

 

**Flashback**

 

_"Lord 4th, forgive me if I'm wrong, but couldn't you have just hired a Nanny to take care of your children while you complete your tasks as hokage?" Asked one council woman with pink hair._

 

_Minato was expecting this from her, she is a Haruno after all, nosey, noisy, and so pushy it's annoying. He mentally sighed, "yes I could have," he said._

 

_"So why haven't you?" Asked the nosey Haruno._

 

_"Because all of my children are ninjas, not civilians, ninja children need a different type of care than a civilian child. For example, since all ninja, young and old, have chakra, they can also release Killing Intent, even a child that is only two years of age could do so. Subconscious or not, they release Killing Intent none the less, seeing as a civilian can't handle too much Killing Intent at once, and I have four who can produce it at a medium amount each, sending a civilian into that would be like putting an egg into boiling water. You know as well as I do that civilians can't handle that amount of pressure for long periods of time, yet you want me to send them into that anyways?" Minato questioned, hoping that the woman would let the meeting go on from there, but sadly, the Haruno became pushy._

 

_The Haruno's didn't like to lose, especially when **they** thought they had a point. "No, no, Lord 4th, I was thinking more along the lines of sending in people on shifts, a hour at the most, then they give the rains over to the next person."_

 

 _Minato nodded, "yes, even though that sounds like a good plan in thertical terms, but then we would have to deal with mental health checks. I assume you remember the last time I had a civilian watch just one of my children before, don't you?" The Haruno woman looked at Minato for a moment, hesitant, he assumed that she either didn't read the report, or didn't believe it. Either way he had to tell everyone, mostly the civilian side, about what happened to that one civilian who thought they could take care of a baby ninja. "The civilian was caught trying to drawn my son, Naruto, in the family pool when he was just one years old. The time before that, another civilian that was taking care of Naruto and Narumi, had to be sent to Inoichi to get them out of a stress related coma before we could send them to Ibiki for knowingly locking Naruto out of the house for half a day. By the time I got there, he was starving and covered in dirt, so forgive me for not wanting to expose my children to that, if there is a civilian out there that can withstand Killing Intent for days, I'll rethink my decision. If not, then my answer remains the same, is that clear,_ Miss Haruno _?" He asked making said woman shut up and silently fume to herself, Minato smiled, "good, now what's next on the agenda today?"_

 

**Flashback end**

 

From that day on, no one questioned Minato on his use of the new genin teams being baby-sitters for his kids again, seeing as the civilians do it all the damn time anyways. Now then, her we find Narumi Namikaze training with her favorite perverted godfather, Jiraya, he was teaching her how to summon frog since he had her sign the contract a few months before her third year began. For almost four months now, Narumi was able to summon... A tadpole.... That's it.

 

"Summoning jutsu!" Narumi shouted for about the third time that evening, but it had no doubt been more since that had just come back from lunch. A puff of smoke appeared and when it cleared, "YATTA! Finally!" She shouted out, punching her fist in the air.

 

Jiraya looked up from the Bush's that he was crouching behind, looking at the group of girls playing in the lake near by, and looked at his student. "Hm? So you finally made a frog appear?" He asked walking over.

 

"Yeah, yeah, look it! See, a FROG!" She said with joy in her voice.

 

Jiraya took a look at said frog, then he looked back at Narumi who had stares in her eyes, back to the frog, then back to Narumi, he sighed deeply and took out a large paper fan. He lifted it up slowly then... WHACK, Narumi fell onto the ground with a hug bump on the back of her head, he was about to walk away when... "HAY!! ERO-JIJI WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA!" Yelled Narumi, her face was red in anger.

 

Jiraya calmly took a deep breath in before turning to let it out, now facing Narumi again, the urge to snake the red head again was too real. "I told you to make a frog, did I not?" He asked calmly.

 

Narumi nodded, "yeah and I did that, what's your point?"

 

Jiraya sighed again, something he's been doing a lot since he took the girl under his wing, "look, I get your all about getting stronger through hard work and all, but for Kami's sake girl, please,  _please_ , try just a bit harder."

 

Narumi growled at her sensei, "I am trying harder, what do you think I've been doing all this time?!" 

 

"OH YOU HAVE, HUH? THEN TELL ME, WHAT IN YAMI'S NAME IS THAT?" Jiraya asked as he pointed at the ''frog''.

 

"HUH?!, HAVE YOU GONE BLIND OLD MAN? ITS A FROG JUST LIKE YOU TOLD ME!"

 

Jiraya spluttered, "a frog, a frog! Little girl I thing you better go and get your eyes checked because that there Isn't a frog, it's a TADPOLE!"

 

Narumi stomped her foot, "nuh uh! A tadpole has a head and a tail and looks like sperm, this one has  _legs_! There for, its not a tadpole, but a frog!"

 

Jiraya hit Narumi over the head again, "that is not a frog and you know it!"

 

And thus the fighting of who was right or wrong went on as the tadpole sweatdropped at the humans foolishness.

* * *

 

 

Back in Kumo around the same time, the rikage thought it fit to take his family out on a family mission. It was a simple B rank, all of them didn't even need to go, but since it was so important to him to spend time as much time as he possibly could with them, since he's always in the office, went with them. The mission was to pick up and drop off some important royal people to some country. The royal people were honored that the 3rd rikage himself was leading the journey with them, they felt well protected with him there. They were skeptical about the children with him, but E assured them that his kids were very well trained in the arts of a ninja, the royal people took his word for it. The king and queen of the royal group had brought their kids with them, two princesses and a prince, the three kids got along grate with Naruto and the others, the king was impressed because no one they had taking care of their kids back home could entertain their kids for the whole journey. Once the group reached their destination, the king and queen thanked them and promised to give more missions to Kumo as a show of their greatfullness. 

 

It was on the way back home that things got rough, and E  _almost_ died.

 

They were all having a good time talking about how they would celebrate the new influx of missions, when suddenly Kurama sensed something off in the distance. He growled, "what's the matter sweetheart, do you sense a enemy approaching?" Asked E.

 

"No, not a enemy, but menu enemies, and their coming in fast," said Kurama turning to the direction of a mountain a good ways away. Everyone was looking at the mountain now, first they saw nothing, but then suddenly, an army appeared, they all looked to be Iwa ninjas.

 

R saw this and knew that he didn't want his family to get hurt, they may have been strong during their training, but they were only ten. He knew that he didn't want them to them to have to have their first kill here, not when they were so young, he also knew that he couldn't take on these ninjas alone, he might die if he fights. He was turning around to his family, to say his goodbyes, to tell them to run and don't look back, but when he turned he saw...

 

"Don't even thing about it dad, we'll never leave you!" Said Naruto with definite eyes.

 

E looked to the others who agreed with Naruto, "no, no, you can't just throw away your lives when your all so young! You have everything to live for, you have your whole lives, don't want them on senseless fighting here."

 

Everyone looked at each other as they stood there, Gaara walked over to E after a moment, the army was still a good ways away from them. "Father, before I met you, I thought I was supposed to love only myself, live only for my self, but you and everyone else had changed my way of thinking. For that, I thank you, all of you, you have taught me what it to be a human being, and not the monster I thought I was."

 

Hinata walked up next, "I used to have a father that thought I was useless, he kept me weak for his own gain, I was so lonely and depressed that I thought of ending my own life. But then I came here, I met you all, and now I don't feel useless anymore, so long as I'm alive, I'm going to continue being useful and be useless again."

 

Shikamaru took off his headphonesand smirked, "give it up pop's, we've all came here of our own will, we found a home in where we all feel loved and where we belong. There's no way that anyone of us are going to give that up, not our new home, and definitely not our new family."

 

"Besides, home would feel the same without you there, dad," said Haku. 

 

E heard a chick next to him, "come on honey, you know once they made up their minds, there's no changing it," Kurama said still looking at the wave of on coming enemies. "So, instead of getting all this gooy heartfelt stuff out in the open, let's fight like a family."

 

E looked at all the determined looks he was getting and he gave up, he turned back to the fight that was fast approaching and sighed, "if A finds out about this, he's going to have a fit."

 

"Not unless you hand over that hat to him like you were planning to do when we got back," Kurama chuckled.

 

"Ah, you got me there, Kura-chan," E chuckled back, when the enemy got closer, yelled out. "All right kids, make me proud and show me how much you love your home!"

 

"Yes sir!" They all yelled back.

 

"Charge!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo so tell me how you like this chapter, I promise that after the fight is done I will focus on the relationship part more. The relationship for this will be narugaara and hinahaku shikaneji an some others.


	12. Fight

**Flashback**

 

_"Naruto, you know you should better at sealing than we are, but yet you haven't started training with it yet. You only know the basics, why is that?" Haku asked one day on their way to school._

 

_Naruto shrugged, "I don't know, I just feel like a Uzumaki, not since I read everything that Kushina had done while she was in Uzu."_

 

_Haku sighed and looked over to Hinata, "Naruto, you know that you're not your mother, right?" Hinata asked._

 

_"Yeah, yeah, I know that...but, it's just something that makes me feel, in some small way, responsible for all that she had done while she was still there. You know, before she accidentally killed my uncle before leaving."_

 

_A hand appeared on Naruto's shoulder, he looked back to see Gaara staring at him with his beautiful light teal eyes,"Naruto..."  he started as he continued to walk next to the trio. "I'm an Uzumaki too, so I know how you feel, this woman I've never meet has done something so horrible, something that I only ever had to do to survive the attacks that the kazakage had sent out for him. The lives I took back then was in self defense, not for some prank..." he sighed, "however, I am an Uzumaki still, but you, you're the prince, you should at least learn some of it."_

 

_"What do- I did learn some of the sealing, I just, I don't know..." Naruto looked down as they continued to get closer to the school building._

 

_"Yo, Naruto, don't worry about your old lady, we all know she was crazy, but you are you and we'll always be your family, through and through, yeah," rapped B as he walked with his younger siblings._

 

_"I think what you need to focus on is not what that bitch did when she was in Uzu," Shikamaru said in a mellow tone. His headphones were on and he was walking as if he was alone, his music no doubt playing as usual, but whenever his siblings were near, he would always turn down the volume so he could hear some of the things that was said. He turned around and started walking backwards as he looked Naruto in the eyes, "your royalty, it doesn't matter if that woman was your mom, or some random face in the crowd, you are supposed to take up the head position for all Uzumaki's. I suggest that you don't think as that woman as a Uzumaki, because if I remember right, she was banished from Uzu after that little incident so technically, she's not really much of an Uzumaki anymore than your dad in my book." Naruto looked at Shikamaru for a moment, deep in thought, "think about it Naruto, in the future, if you learn and maybe master the art of sealing, you could even take my title as Bomb King."_

 

_A smile came across Naruto's face as he thought about this, "you know what, you can keep your title, but I will one up you.... in fact, I think I'll start my training today. It's not like we have to go to orientation today, being it's the start of our second year and all."_

 

_Shikamaru smiled as he turned back around, "yeah, you may just make Mad Bomber yet," he chuckled as they all entered the building._

 

_Haku, Hinata, and Gaara became worried about what Shikamaru had said, however, as long as Naruto upheld his duties as the Prince of Uzu, they'll over look it until it becomes a problem. But knowing Naruto, he wouldn't let it._

 

**Flashback end.**

 

Naruto looked at the o coming crowd of people that was coming at them with the intent to kill them all, he looked to his right to see Hinata and Haku reading their weapons, Rubi and Elsa. He looked to his left to see Gaara with a trail of sand floating around him, Shikamaru had taken off his headphones, putting them away in his sealing bag and took out his favorite goggles. He looked over to Kurama who already had his hands in a hand sign, his father was in front of him with his lightening armor,  a big grin crossed his face as he took out Ashira and Indra, his gantlets, he loved them so much now that he wouldn't dare part with them for all the money in the world. It was with these same gantlets that he surpassed the mastery level of sealing, right now at his level, not even a skilled sealing mater like Minato or Kushina could take him on come out on top.

 

"Charge!"

 

The word was the trigger for the seven members of the group to charge forth and start the fight. Hinata started things off with a mighty swing of her gunbai, the wind came out like a long curved slash that cut through twenty of the shinobi's running at her, the wind cut them in have, spraying blood all over the place. Gaara's sand was next, it rushed forward and surrounded three of the on coming ninja's at one time, he held out his hand and clenched it into a fist, the three barred ninja's screams could be heard as they were crushed by the sand. Haku tossed out papers with seals on it over the charging crowd, the seals flew out and stopped over a few areas of the crowd, the seals grew larger and before anyone could prepare themselves, senbon needles rained down from all the seals, some poisoned, some not. Explosions as well as manic laughter could be heard somewhere in the crowd of running bodies as Shikamaru dished out a few of his latest creations, he tossed a ball that looked like an apple at a group of shinobi that was closer to him. One shinobi just looked at the apple shape-bomb as if it was just a fruit, he bent down to pick it up and laughed, as well as six others that was with him, that was a big mistake, Shikamaru jumped away from the laughing ninja's just before a large exploitation was heard from the group, the distraction of the  _apple_ took out all seven ninjas and almost eight others that was close by. 

 

"Hay, Shika, save some for me would ya?" Naruto yelled at the Nara.

 

Shika laughed, "first come, first served, Naru-chan!"

 

Naruto gritted his teeth, "I told you to stop calling me that!" He yelled as he put on his gantlets, he flashed through hand signs at a chunin level speed before putting his hands up to his mouth and blowing out a fire from it. "Fireball Jutsu, Great Fire jutsu!" He yelled as the fireball burnt several ninja's close by, he then leaped forward, doing a front flip in mid air, he landed on one shinoni's back before pushing off him to land on another and another until his hands had touched five shinobis in the process. He smirked and dashed away from them as they realized it was one of their enemies tat had touched them, they ran forward after Naruto only getting two steps in before a burning sensation spread all over their bodies. They stopped and screamed in pain for two seconds before all five exploded, spraying blood, guts, and organs all over the battle field. "HA! Beat that, King!"

 

Shikamaru had watched the display with a hint of awe and glee in his eyes, he smiled, "nod bad, Princess!" He said as he jumped out of the way as three shinobi's, chunin level, _tried_ to rush him, "hay guys, I think we should see who could take down the most bad guys! What ya say?" He yelled out to the others as they fought.

 

"I wouldn't mind a challenge right now," Naruto said as he got into a taijutsu match with two jonin and a chunin leveled ninja's. He punched the chunin in the face, he kicked one of the jonin's in the throat and the other in the stomach before jumping up high in the air and back flipping away, he landed next to Shikamaru with ease, "what do I get when I win."

 

Two jonin came out from the ground and tried to pull the two under, but was surprised when after they did pull them under with them, the two exploded, "I think the one to take down the most bad guys should earn the right to take the genin exams a year earlier than the rest, and then go on missions officially. How does that sound to you,  _sis_?"

 

Naruto scuffed, "we'll see you're calling sis when I beat the pants off of you, bro," he held out his hand.

 

Shikamaru shook Naruto's hand, "oh and, this is also to see who's the better seal master in our group, me... or the princess, you think you can handle that?"

 

Naruto chuckled, "I didn't waist my time studying last year for nothing, your on!"

 

Hinata rolled her eyes as she ran through hand signs for another jutsu, "you two are forgetting that Haku and I have already reached master seal level!" She yelled over the pain filled screams of the jonin that she had just electrocuted with her water and lightening jutsu.

 

"Whatever!" Shikamaru and Naruto yelled as they both jumped out of the way of a rock covered fist that would have caught them bother by surprise if they weren't trained sensor's.

 

"Save your breath Hinata, there's no talking to those two when they're like this," Haku yelled as he tossed out more seals over the field, careful not to hit his siblings when it activated, "besides, this might be fun to watch." E and Kurama could only chuckle at their children's antics, "let's begin!"

* * *

 

* * *

(so here's how it's going to go: Hinata, Haku, Gaara, Shikamaru, and then Naruto goes last. Okay? Keep up)

* * *

 

* * *

 

**Hinata**

 

Hinata sighed as she turned back to her own fight, she had about a hundred or so Iwa shinobi's to deal with, she had no time to bother with what her brothers were doing right now. She placed her gunbai, Rubi, onto her back and got into the taijuts stance for the Hidden Fist, she crouched low with her hands on the ground, looking like a tiger about to strike down her prey. Some of the shinobi around looked at her and smirked, "what's a little girl like you doing in a place like this?" Asked on stuck up bastered, "I know, how about after we're done her, we take you back with us to Iwa and you can add those beautiful body of yours to the catalog, what you guys think?" He asked looking around to some of the guys there, some of the women that was there rolled their eyes at the mention of their plans to do with Hinata once the fight was over, but said nothing.

 

Hinata could feel her blood boiling, "you'll have to live through your fight with my first," she said calmly, " when I'm done with you guys, I'll be taking your balls as my prize, and that's a promise!" 

 

The guy from before chuckled, he dropped his fighting stance and folded his arms, "look little  _girl,_ you should be honored that we'd-" the guy was cut off as Hinata disappeared from everyone's view. The guy just blinked and she was gone, he did't have even a second to recount what he was seeing when he felt a mind numbing pain erupt from his stomach, he forced himself to look down to see what it was, he saw how Hinata's foot had connected and barred itself into his stomach like a potted plant. The guy spit up blood as his eyes shakily looked back at Hinata's face, her silvery bangs covering her eyes, "h-h-how d-" he said but more blood spilled out of his mouth as Hinata turned her foot, barring it deeper into the guys stomach. She slowly pulled out her foot from the guy's gut and straightened up, the guy's legs gave out as he fell to his knees in pain, still looking up at Hinata as the light slipped away from his eyes and his face kissed the ground, unmoving.

 

"Anyone else?" Hinata asked, her bangs still covering her eyes.

 

The area was silent for a moment as everyone took in the site of their fallen comrade, they looked at the still form as if it had been so impossible for a little girl to have the strength and speed to do such an act. They shook themselves out of their stupor and ran at Hinata, Hinata just took a deep breath as time slowed down around her, she took Rubi's handle and brought her down in front of her. She pulled Rubi back, far enough that it would touch her back, she stayed like that for a few seconds before bringing it across her body to the other side of her to touch her back again, blades of wind came out like before, but this one was bigger, the wind blade glided through the air, she quickly held her hand in a hand sign and blow a breath of water that covered the blade and sharpened it. The water-wind blade swept through a tenth of the group, stopping in their tracks as they were sliced in half, she ran forward until she was just in front of the remaining group before jumping high in the air, she stayed in the air for ten seconds, long enough to go through another set of hand signs.

 

"Heaven's Punishment! Shockwave!" She held out one hand towards the group and a large wave of what looked to be just water came from her hands, flooding the surrounding area, some of the lucky few was prepared in time and protected themselves with a dome wall around them until the water passed. The ones that weren't ready on time got hit with the on coming water, but instead of drowning, as soon as the water hit their bodies, their bodies lit up, with white lightening surrounding them, their screams of pain rang out through out the field as they were killed without mercy. The water washed away, taking the dead with them to place them into a pile not too far away, Hinata landed  in front of the remaining shinobi's, now about only forty remained. The few that survived dropped their domes and started attacking with earth style jutsu's, Hinata smiled, she held up Rubi above her head and whispered, "Blazing Breeze," she swung Rubi down words, she met and broke through all of their jutsu's as a swirling ball of flames rushed forward like a force of nature. When the flames died down, only thirty were left.

 

Hinata lifted Rubi again, the Iwa ninja's went on guard, they didn't know what to expect next, "Electric Blue Flame Barrage!" She said as she swung Rubi again to touch the ground, this time nothing happened, at least not right away. The Iwa ninja's looked around for a second before giving each other a revealed chuckle.

 

"Hahah, looks like your all out of luck kid," someone from the group said arrogantly, "let's get her boy!" The Iwa ninja's cheered and charged Hinata, since she hadn't moved, they thought that she was in shock that her jutsu had failed and now she might die, wrong! When most of the ninja's were a yard away, Hinata lifted Rubi from the ground, this action caused the ground to shake violently, suddenly everyone that had been in front of the charge had been electrocuted by the lightening that was waiting under the ground for someone stupid to strike down. As those people got a good does of lightening, blue flames engulfed everything withing a ten mile radius in it's flames, more screams had been heard from her victims, the flames spread and caught anyone that was trying to get away from it's wrath, it took in everything that was within it's range. It scorched ground and body alike, everyone to anyone, no one was safe, that was why those who knew this jutsu stayed clear of it because the flames sometime took on a mind of it's own and could go beyond ten miles if not dispelled quickly after fifteen minutes. When the flames went away for good, there was only one Iwa ninja remined.

 

"W-wait!" Yelled the one and only surviving ninja left, it was a konoichi, Hinata looked at her, she had short black heir and a ground face, she looked to be just a kid herself, probably a year or two older than Hinata. "W-wh-who are you to have so much power? I mean you're just a kid aren't you?" Asked the girl shaking where she stood, "h-ho-how d-did you g-get so s-strong?"

 

Hinata turned her full attention onto the girl, she seemed to have come with the group to do something, was it to fight? To test her skills? Hinata didn't know, but now that she was the only one left, she might as well find out, "what's your name?" Hinata asked the frightened konoichi.

 

"K-K-Kurotsuchi, m-my name's K-Kurotshuchi," said the konoichi.

 

"Well, Kurotsuchi, my name is Hinata, I wield Rubi, The Heavenly Winds Gunbai." Hinata said as she put Rubi on her back, "what did you come here for? It didn't look like you had much battle experience at all, even though you seem older than me, so, what's your purpose for being here?"

 

"I-I-I asked my grandfather if I could come and observe the battle happening today," Kurotsuchi said.

 

"Why? Who ordered this battle, what was the reason?" Hinata questioned as a large bomb near by went off and shook the earth that they were standing on.

 

"W-why wou-would I t-" Kurotuschi stopped what she was saying as Hinata reached for Rubi, "t-to see if our forces could kill the rikage, we wanted to see if there was a way t defeat the rikage. If there was, we could use it in our next battle with him, this time we failed, but next time we wont!" She said getting confidence at the end.

 

Hinata chuckled lowly in her throat, so it turned into a full blown laugh, "you think that you could take down my father easily?" She laughed, "do you honestly take my father as a weakening that he would die from an attack like this?" She gestured to her surrounding, "if you thought he was going to die from thing like this, you and your grandfather are both crazy, he might have died from exhaustion if he had fought you all alone, but never from the attack itself."

 

Kurotsuchi got angry at Hinata for the way that she spoke about her and her grandfather, "oh yeah, well what makes you so sure that we couldn't beat your dad whenever we wanted, huh? He's got so many kids running around his house, I don't see how he can ev-"

 

"We are his kids, that fact alone does not make us strong, we work hard and train as well! _If_ our father had gone down in a blaze of glory.... well, it wouldn't be Iwa that get's him in the end, that all I can say," Hinata smirked.

 

"You wanna bet!" Kurotsuchi growled.

 

Hinata brought her hand up from her side, making Kurotsuchi flinch slightly but Hinata noticed, sh rested her hand over her mouth and yawned at the girl, "I'll make you a deal, okay Kuro. I'll give you about a year or two to train, maybe I'll see you at the chunin exams or some other day, then I'll will face off with you, but for right now, you're too weak and need better training." She turned away from the Iwa konochi then, "I trained night and day with Rubi, I made something of myself, I don't mean to sound rude to you, not now that you had just witnessed your fellow rock heads get cut down my a  _little girl_. My advice to you is to work hard, push yourself, training means nothing unless you put your all into it," she looked back at Kurotsuchi than," next time I want to hear your battle cry, not a stutter, got it?" Then she walked away from to see what the others were doing, the battle had went by so fast that she didn't keep time on it, she heard something close to a sob and then the sound of someone running away. She smiled,  _"see you soon, Kurotsuchi, you better not make me regret my choice of you,"_ she thought as she walked away to rejoin the others.

* * *

**Haku**

 

 

Haku turned away from his brothers little bet to face the hundred or so ninja's coming at him, seven jonin level ninja's rushed forth with hand signs for a high powered water bullet. Haku did some hand signs at high chunin speed, "okay guys, let's hurry this up, I've got other things to be and places be, so lets go already," he landed on the last hand sign and a thick mist covered the area were the jonin were, "Hidden Mist style, Dancing Mist Needles!" Soon screams were heard from withing the mist for a few moments before everything went silent, "who's next?" The other ninja charged forward with different jutsu's charged and ready to go, "that's more like it," he ran towards the on coming crowd as he went through more hand signs, "Lightening Style, Body Stitcher," he slammed his hands on the ground before jumping high into the air. The ground that he toughed lit up in a blue glow just before a streak of lightening sprang up from the ground, it shot toward the nearest set of ninja's and ran them through, going in a zig-zag as it pearsed through different bodies. The lightening flew through seven ninja's, shocking them to death before it dispelled on it's own, Haku landed in the middle of the crowd with his sword un-sheath, some ninja's threw kunai or shuriken at the silver haired boy, but none landed because he deflected them all with a swing of his sword.

 

Haku lifted The Angel sword, Elsa, into the air with one hand as he held up a hand sign with the other hand, "Water Style, Parsing Rain!" The cloud in the sky became gray and rain started to fall, the Iwa ninja's looked at the rain as if it was normal rain, that is until some of the ninja's started to fall like flies once the rain picked up speed and started to fall heavier. Haku then took hold of Elsa with both hands and brought it straight down to the ground, as soon as the sword hit the ground, the earth shook and large cracks appeared in the ground starting from the tip of the sword outward, the ground fell apart any many of the shinobi there fell through to be barred under the rubble. Haku reached into his weapons pouch and took out his four remaining seals,  _"damn, that last mission almost wiped me out, these are my last ones,"_ he thought to himself as he looked out over the rest of the battle field. There were still three seals still up shooting out senbon needles, he had about sixty Iwa ninja's left to fight,  _"oh well, looks like I'll have to start using Elsa more now, even though she won't like it,"_ he thought, he chuckled to himself,  _"oh well, as long as she gets blood, she shouldn't be too mad about it."_ Haku put the seals back into his pouch and held Elsa with both hands, "Fire Style, Hungry Dragon!" He swung the sword up and a dragon made of fire appeared, the dragon looked at the shinobi for a second before licking it's lips, it charged at them with an open mouth, swallowing a few of the ninja's before changing directions and repeating the action.

 

While the dragon ate up most of the Iwa ninja's, Haku reached into his weapons pouch again, this time he took out what  _looked_ like an orange. He took out a brush, quickly drew a seal on it before tossing it over to some distracted shinobi, he did a hand sign, "Multi Shadow Bomb Fusion!" The orange separated into thirty dozen oranges before hitting the ground and exploding all at once, creating a ground shaking explosion in the process, he looked around to see if there were any survivors left, between the now dispelled dragon and the bombs, there were about thirty left. He shrugged, "man you guys are good, but..." he lifted Elsa to rest on his shoulders, "Elsa's hungry and she'll never forgive me if I didn't get her anything to eat, you guys understand, right?" He said in calm voice.

 

"Why you little shit!" One ninja who was in front of the crowd, "let's get him!"

 

"Looks like you don't," Haku pouted, "my apologies in advance."

 

He held out Else out in front of him, pointing it at the coming ninja with both hands as he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath breath in. He let it out slowly and opened his eyes, "Flame Style, Scorching Steam House!" A spray of steam spread out filtered out from the tip of the sword over the ninja's, many screamed in pain, this cued Haku to charge into the misty steam, he would slash at any enemy that got in his way, the sound of people being cut down could be heard from within the mist like substance as he past through. When he got to the other side of the steam, he was sweating a little and Elsa was covered in blood that soon evaporated into the blade itself, he straightened up and took in another deep breath, "Wind Style, Great Breakthrough!" Was heard before the misty steam blow away to reveal no survivors, Haku turned to the person tat had done the jutsu, he saw Hinata and smiled, "so...your done too?"

 

Hinata put Rubi back on her back as she smiled back at Haku, "yeah, I got all of mine, but I had to let one go so she could get the word out to her village about father," she said walking over to him.

 

"You, H Wing, showed mercy?" Haku chuckled, "sorry but that's kind hard to believe."

 

Hinata shrugged, "I don't know, she just looked like she wasn't ready or something, you know? who knows, maybe when we reach the chunin exams, she'll be there and we'll have a real fight."

 

"You know, you're starting to sound like someone I met while I was still in Kiri. They called him a demon for some reason, I just didn't didn't see it," Haku said.

 

"Hmm, not sure how I should feel about that yet," Hinata said folding her arms.

 

"Oh, I-I-I j-just mean t-that uh, um," a small blush came over Haku's face as he put Elsa away. "Um...H-Hinata, there's somethin-" he was cut off when they heard a really large  explosion and maniacal laughter off in the distance.

 

They both turned to see a large purple mushroom cloud a few miles away from them, "looks like Shika's having some real fun, you wanna go watch with me?"

 

Haku shrugged his shoulder's in defeat, "might as well," he said as they started walking.

 

"Oh, by the way, what was that you were going to tell me?" Hinata asked.

 

"Never mind, I'll tell you some other time," Haku said with a rain cloud over his head.

 

"Okay," Hinata said, inwardly she thought,  _"why do I get the feeling he was going to confess something to me *gasp* does he have feeling for me? Does he think of me that way?... It would be just my luck if he didn't..."_ and just like that, the two both walked away with depressed rain clouds over their heads.

* * *

 

**Gaara**

 

Gaara had started the battle with his sand defense, but he got bored of that real quick,  _"my was it called the ultimate defense anyways? You're just standing here, watching people try and fail to attack you, it's soooo boring, and what's worse is that someone could just come in from underground and pull me under."_ Thought Gaara as he continue to watch his sand deflect all the attacks that came his way,  _"oh now I see why the kazakage and the council liked this defense so much, they could just sit behind it and let their muscles rot while I do all the work. How the fuck is that fair?! I swear, the next time I see that baster of a kage, I'm going to give him my two cents, that's a promise!"_ He thought angrily as yet another bunt of attacks fail yet again, shockingly (oh the sarcasm /=P), Gaara thought it was time to show these ninja's what he was really made of.  _"Oh look, and now they're mostly tired from all the failed attempts, I should make this quick so I can see my Naru-chan!"_ A light blush came over his cheeks as he thought about  _his_ Naru-chan,  _"no one else shall have him!"_

 

With a new flame of determination, he got into the stance for the Hidden Fist that he had learned from Hinata the year before. Most of the shinobi were too tired to face him in their current states, some didn't even see when he dropped his sand shield to take up stance, however, they did  _feel_ when he started to fight back, not just deflect their attacks. Withing one minute, Gaara made it across the field while hitting vital points of all the Iwa shinobi, he moved with a sires of kicks, flips, and punches with enoughchakra in them to knock anyone out for a good ten hours or so. But instead of just knocking them out, he added more chakra with the punches to that they would all die from losing their breaths so suddenly, Gaara looked back at the downed shinobi that were no longer breathing, he smiled, "Hinata-nee would be so proud of me, now... _"_ said happily, because Hinata was like the big sister that he had always wanted Tamari to be. Just then he heard an explosion go off a few miles away from his position, he turned around to see a purple mushroom cloud in the distance,  _"that's got to be Naruto, if he did that then that means he must have used a lot of chakra, if he used too much chakra then he may need someone to carry him back and..."_ Gaara's thoughts trailed off to... other things... as he started wondering over to the cloud of smoke.

 

"Hay look, it's Gaara, you think he's gone fighting?" Hinata said as they saw the red head.

 

"If he wasn't, he wouldn't, there wouldn't be so many bodies laying around," said Haku. "Plus he's making _that_ face again."

 

Hinata nodded, "true, true, we should hurry, I want to get a good view," she said as they walked on, following and guiding Gaara so that he didn't trip or fall while walking. Because Naruto, they all knew except the blond himself, that he was Gaara's one weakness.

* * *

 

**Shikamaru**

 

Shikamaru jumped up into the air when a wave of rock tried to crush him, he pulled his gaggles over his eyes, which was a lovely dark green to compliment his eyes. He took out scroll and unsealed what looked to be a bowl of fruit, he looked at the bowl i his hands, "alright, now let's see, I still have some apple bombs left, and the oranges look ready to go as well." He landed on his feet, falling onto one chunin's back as he continued to look at te bowl of fruit in his hands with a calm expression, this action made the other ninja's made as the Nara continued to ignore them, making it seem like fruit were more important than their attacks. They rushed forth, ready to attack the boy and end the fight for good when Shikamaru snapped his fingers, "oh! I know now..." he took out the grapes, pulled off the stem with his teeth, dropped the supposed fruit, then he focused chakra into his feet to make him jump high up into the air just as the group closed in on the spot that he had just been standing in. The vein of grapes that he had just dropped started to release a dark red smoke that covered the area that they were in, the ones closest to the fallen fruit got their skin burnt off and their eyes melted from the smoke alone, it was seconds after the smoke appeared that the real explosion took place.

 

A load  **BOOM** was heard as the entire area was engulfed in red hot flames. Shikamaru did a wind jutsu to stay up in the air for a while longer until some of the fire had died down a bit, when he thought it was safe enough, "Water Style, H2o Ice Fair!" A tilde wave of water washed over the smoking area, clearing the fire and smoke from the ground, the water raged until it covered all of the smoke and fire, then the water began to freeze over turning everything to ice and snow. Shikamaru landed on the icy ground, chakra on the souls of his feet to keep him from slipping, he looked around to see some remains of the burnt bodies covered by the ice, but there wasn't a whole lot left of them, a arm here, a leg there, a partly burned skull somewhere over there, nothing more than peaces laying about. Shikamaru yawned, he stretched a bit before taking out his note pad and writing stuff down, "need to change seal formula to less than half, hold back on dye, maybe change color to green..." he looked around the field, "fire needs more time to burn bodies fully," he stopped writing and put the note pad away. He heard fighting in the distances, it was close by too, he turned in the direction that he had sen Naruto jump off into and started walking over to the sounds that he was hearing.

 

He got closer and was now standing on the edge of a large crater, "so that was the sound I head earlier that made the ground shake, huh, I thought it was a bomb." He shrugged his shoulders, "guess not," he took out his headphones and started playing some Breaking Benjiamens (did I spell that right? No? Whatever...) as he watched Naruto fight. Soon Hinata, Haku, and Gaara joined him, after he watched Naruto set off an amazing looking seal that flowed up into a mushroom cloud, thank goodness he had his shields up when he did or else he would have turned into toast like the ninja's down below, "man that was awesome!" He said as he ate some waffles he got from his bag.

 

"Where'd you get the waffles?" Asked Gaara and Haku.

 

"My bag, here" he took out another plate of waffles for them, "want some? They go great with the sound of enemies dying," he said with evil smile.

 

Haku, Gaara, and Hinata shrugged there shoulders, having already gotten used to his new personality, "sure, why not?" And they ate waffles as people died in front of them.

* * *

 

**Naruto**

 

 

Naruto looked around at all the remaining ninja's left for him to fight, "hay, you guys want to see something cool? You'll be the first ones to see, I've been meaning meaning to try this out for a while now, so what do you say?"

 

"Shut up you brat! There's still a lot of us left to fight, and there's only one of you!" Said one ninja.

 

"Yeah, what can you do?" Said another ninja.

 

Naruto chuckled, "you wanna see?" he chuckled again, "then I'll show you, I'll show all! Bomber Style, Shadow Bomb!"

 

Naruto then slammed his hand down on the ground, a large seal appear below him, he stood up and jumped away from the seal. The ninja's looked at the seal and saw nothing was happening, so they rushed to catch Naruto before he did something that would kill them all. They would never admit it, but they were actually afraid of the curly haired blond, Naruto landed and few yards away from were he was and slammed his hand on the ground again. Another seal appeared as he jumped away again, the Iwa ninja's was getting annoyed by Naruto just jumping around so he threw some kunai and shuriken at him to stop him from what he was trying to do. Naruto landed in another spot and made a third seal, he dodged all weapons that was sent his way,  _"man they're slow, or am I too fast for them?"_ He thought as he made a fourth seal on the ground before jumping away to another spot, he pushed a bit and almost got caught by a Iwa ninja that was closer to the spot he was aiming for. When he landed, he manged to kick the ninja in the head as he came close and made a fifth seal before the rest could catch up to him, he could hear laughing in the distance an looked up to see Shikamaru sitting on the edge of the crater he was fighting the ninja's in now. He smiled up at the Nara as he made a six seal while dodging a downward strike of a katana, "you enjoying the show, Shika?" Naruto asked jumping in the air and doing a TenTen type flip before landing to make a seventh seal.  _"Just one more and I'm done, man this is a work out, I hope it works out well though, I've worked on this thing for a whole year now. It's going to be awesome to see all that hard work pay off."_

 

Meanwhile Shikamaru had taken out some waffles from his bag and was pouring syrup on them, which caught Naruto's nose, he looked up to see Shika eating waffles. He loved waffles too, so he pouted, "save some of me, okay, Shika!" He yelled out to the Nara, who nodded as Naruto almost got cut in half, he jumped away again just in time though and made the last seal,  _"hope this works well,"_ he thought to himself. He made some hand signs before slapping his hands in the prayer position, "those who come to this house uninvited shall rot from the inside out, Shadow King Felt Doc, Rising Darkness Seal!" He slamed both his hands down on the ground as the Iwa ninja's watched, they had lost their ability to move when Naruto had completed the last seal, when he had slammed his hands down, most of the Iwa ninja's bodies started to melt away into the ground while others started to scream. Naruto stood up straight with his hand holding one hand sign up, the ground below the melting/screaming ninja's began to shake for a second before a large explosion was head and purple smoke came out from the ground, covering the dying ninja's. Flames licked out from the smoke and would have burned Naruto and Shika's faces off if they didn't have their shields up when they did, another explosion was head, as well as more pain filled screams, some begged for death, others wishing they were dead already, but most if not all will surely die soon enough. It just took a while to get there. The second explosion shook the ground before a their explosion sounded and the purple smoke rose up into a mushroom cloud of death, signalling that the seal had done it's job well.

 

"Man that was awesome!" Shikamaru said as some of the smoke on the ground cleared away.

 

Naruto looked up to see Haku, Gaara, and Hinata had come over and was also eating the yummy waffles, _"aw man, I gotta get up there before they're all gone!"_ He thought as a punch from a partly burnt man with a Suna head band on. "What the, I thought you all were from Iwa!" Naruto exclaimed as he dodged yet another punch from the man, the whole left side of the man's face was burnt off, as well as some parts of his body, how he was still moving was beyond belief!

 

"No, we we're on a different mission to get back the weapon that Kumo stole from us," said the man with half a face.

 

Naruto looked at the man for a moment as he continued to dodge and weave out of the way of his attacks, "when you say weapon, do you mean the one tailed tanuki, Shukaku?"

 

"Yes, we're looking for the jinchuriki that hold's the one tails, give him back to us, and I'll let you go home in one peace," said the man.

 

Naruto thought for a moment, "how about this, with in about about a year or so, we'll met you at the chunin exams when we turn maybe...hmm, lets see. How about when we all turn at least twelve, maybe eleven? That sound go to you, Suna ninja?"

 

The man growled, "what makes you think-"

 

"Ah ah ah, my seal is still working, I can activate it a again with the flick of my wrist, I doubt you'll survive this time around," Naruto smirked.

 

The man seeing as he had no other choice, chose to not take the deal, he tried to attack but he was disarmed quicker than he could see. A cracking sound rang out around the crater, the man looked down to see that his arm had been broken with a slim chance of it working again. If he was lucky, he cried out in pain as he fell to his knees, clutching his broken right arm, "do we have a deal now, Mr. Suna Ninja?" Naruto asked, still standing in the same spot, the man didn't even see when he moved to brake his arm, "good, so what's your name, Mr. Suna Ninja?"

 

"B-Baki, my name is Bake of the sand," said the man on the ground.

 

"Naruto, of the cloud, nice to meet cha, Baki," Naruto said with a great big smile. He turned to walk away, leaving Baki on the ground, "I hope to see you again soon, at the chunin exams."


	13. Invite to the chunin exams

Naruto walked up to Shikamaru and the others just as E and Kurama were walking over to them, "hay mama, pops, want to have some waffles with us?" Asked Shikamaru as he drizzled more syrup on his waffles.

 

E sweat dropped, "okay Kurama, you were right, he does have a waffle problem."

 

"I don't have a problem with waffles, pops, they're just really good," Shika defended.

 

Kurama sighed, "how my son, the waffle addict, we may need to put you on a diet when we get back."

 

At the word  _diet_ Shika froze, h looked up at his parents, "you mean-"

 

"That's right son, starting now, no more waffles... for a while at least, a few months tops, that's it," E said trying to show some mercy to the boy.

 

Shika gasped, "NOOOOOO!"

* * *

 

 

**Kumo**

 

_3 Weeks later_

 

"Shika, hay, it's going to be alright, you don't need waffles to live, right?" A said in a soft voice to Shikamaru.

 

Shikamaru just shook his head, "but it's so good, why does she have to take them away," he said between sobs.

 

A sighed and looked at the others in the room, "did you really have to take the waffles from him, today of all days?" He asked Kurama.

 

Kurama rolled his eyes, "well how was I supposed to know that he ate those pancakes because it was the only thing his other mother couldn't make?" With a frown knowing that his son was upset because of him.

 

"They're WAFFLES!!" Shika cried out.

 

"Okay, okay, we'll get you some more waffles for you, Shika? How does waffles with blue berries or raspberries sound," E asked trying to comfort the crying boy.

 

A nodded, "or maybe the ones with chocolate chips in them?"

 

Shikamaru sniffed as he looked up at his brother, "chocolate chips, with syrup on top?"

 

"Sure thing son, we'll go get the waffles for you, and you can go into the room and take your genin test. Does that sound like a plan?" E asked kneeling down to his eye level, Shika nodded with a small smile on his face, E smiled back, "good," he turned to Kurama, "now I think you mama has something to say to you. Right, Kurama?"

 

Kurama nodded sadly as he came over and knelt next to E and A in front of Shikamaru, "Shika, I'm sorry I took away the wonderful pa-waffles that you loved so much. If you can find it in your heart to forgive me, I promise that I'll start making you waffles for breakfast from now on, is that a deal?"

 

Shika wiped the tears from his eyes and smiled brightly at Kurama, "alright, I forgive you, mama," he said as he hugged Kurama.

 

Just then Naruto walked into the room, "hay guys, I don't mean to bug, but it's almost Shika's turn," he said.

 

Shika pulled away from Kurama, "you ready, Shika?" Kurama asked, said boy nodded, "good, let's kick some butt," he said as he got up to stand straight.

 

Shika hugged Kurama last time before running out the room, "thanks mama, pops, nii-san, I'm going to do my best!" He said as he ran.

 

E smiled at Shika's retreating back, he then turned to Naruto, "uh, Naruto? You know you don't have to dress like that anymore, Maya's birthday wish has been done with for over a week now."

 

Naruto looked up at E then down to his clothes, he was wearing (picture the dress that Blear wore in Soul Eater), he looked back at them, "what?" He asked innocently, "it makes a grate cover for mission and stuff, I think Maya had the right idea, don't you think?" He smiled and walked out of the room.

 

"Should we talk to him about genders after the test?" A asked.

 

"Trust, A, this was a long time coming," Kurama said as he followed Naruto out the room, E and A looked at each other before shrugging their shoulders and walking out the room.

* * *

 

  _The next day._

 

 

E stood up from the table in front while they were having breakfast the next morning, "I'm so glade that you all passed the genin test yesterday, and to congratulate you all, I'll be hosting a party in your honor. That will also be when I'll hand over the title of rikage to A."

 

At the mention of this, A stopped eating, "wha- pops? A-are you sure?" E smiled and nodded, "I don't know what to say, but I'll accept it none the less."

 

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on daddy, you haven't told A nii-san that he was going to be taking over yet?" Asked Haku looking slightly lost.

 

E chuckled nervously, "uh, yeah, it kind of slipped my mind after we got, you know after all the paperwork that needed to be filled out about the battle we had before with Iwa. Then there was the thing about Baki, the Suna ninja let loose, and then there was also something about this konoichi from Iwa that made it back live. With all that going on, I just barely got all your faces out of the new edition of the bingo book, so as you can see, I was very busy the past few weeks, sorry about that," E explained.

 

"Oh, well, if that's the case, it's understandable," Haku said as he went back to his dongos and cookies, because he has a sweet tooth in the morning.

 

Naruto clapped his hands, "I just want to say that for this party, I'm going to be making the cake, because I haven't made a cake in a while." He turned to Shika, who was writing down lyrics to a song that he was making,  _"well at lest his singing is better than B's rapping, maybe he could make the rap sound better if they worked together?"_ He thought for a moment before shaking the thought out of his head for something to think about later, "hay, Shika, you wanna help me out with the cake?"

 

Shika nodded his head without looking up from his notebook, "sure, give me a time and I'll be there."

 

"Great," Naruto said as he took a sip of his tea and coffee flavored milkshake, his own creation.

 

"Very well, now that that's out of the way, I have another announcement," E said.

 

Everyone looked at the happily smiling 3rd rikage, their gaze turned to one of exasperation as they turned to look at Kurama, said man stopped eating his ramen to look at them, "what?"

 

"Your not pregnant again, are you mama?" Gaara asked bluntly.

 

Kurama's eyes narrowed, "J is still two, Gaara, unless you want another little sibling to fuss over-"

 

"NO!" Everyone at the table said, except the triplets, Maya, and J, who didn't know what was being talked about.

 

"Then keep those mouths shut about it," said Kurama, then he went back to his heavenly ramen as everyone sighed in relief.

 

E cleared his throat, "you guys really shouldn't jump the gun like that," he said a little irritated that his kids thought that he only had sex with his wife whenever they're not around, or when he's not in the office. He sighed, "okay, here's the thing, the chunin exams are coming up soon...."

 

"Huh? But we only made genin yesterday," said Hinata in surprise as she cleaned the lens of Peek-a-Boo, "shouldn't we wait to take that test?"

 

"Yeah, and we haven't even went on any office missions yet," said Naruto and Shikamaru together, slightly freaking out the others because they haven't done that in a while.

 

"A-yo pops, the kiddos haven't a chance if they dance this duo, back to back and it's a bad show, fool ya fool," said Killer B in a rap(?)

 

"Calm down B, let's let pops finish," said Shukaku.

 

"Thnak you, Shu, now as I was saying, the chunin exams are coming up and some of the villages have invited us to go. More importantly, they asked that you all come to the exams, to fight, but I declined them for the fighting part. I then made them simmer down to just letting you guys come to just watch, nothing more, it seems that they really want to meet you guys, so what you all think? Would you all like to go and watch?"

 

Naruto, Haku, Hinata, Gaara, and Shikamaru thought about the choices for a moment, "I think you guys should go and take me with you, it would be nice to watch the other villages show their skills and what they've learned." Jin said from his spot across from Shikamaru, Kibo, who was next to Jin, nodded in agreement with the green eyed fox, "if you guys go this year, you can see what it's like when your ready to take your turn."

 

"Hmm, that makes a good point, the fights, the lights, the crowds out of sight, fool," B rapped.

 

"What did he say?" A asked Shukaku, who was the only known person able to translate Killer B's rapping.

 

"He said it would be a good chance for them to see other villages without the need to fight or be on guard all the time," Shukaku said, not even missing a beat.

 

"Oh, so where's this years chunin exam going to be held?" Hinata asked as she finished cleaning Peek-a-Boo and was starting on her cinnamon bun.

 

"This year, it will be.... in Suna," E said hesitantly.

 

Gaara dropped his spoon full of dongo cereal, "what?"

 

Gaara looked at E as if he had grown a second head, he had made a vow to himself that he would never go back to that place, ever, but if he was going to the chnin exams, he would have to. He didn't want to go back, yet he had to, they were invited to go there, E could tell what the tanuki holder was thinking and got up from his seat to walk over to Gaara. He knelt down next to Gaara's chair, Gaara staring at him the whole time, not wanting to look away from the man, "Gaara, I know you don't want to go back, and you don't have to, not if you don't want to," E sighed. "However, the kazakage specially requested The Sand Reaper, as well as H Wing, Golden Bomber, Ghost Needles, and The Musical Shadow," he then grew a small smile, "he didn't, however, ask for Gaara, Hinata, Haku, Naruto, and Shikamaru."

 

Gaara got a confused look on his face, "but that is asking for us, daddy," said Haku.

 

E chuckled and turned to Haku, who was seated next to Gaara, "actually, Haku, when he asked for you guys, he didn't know your real names, so he asked for your allies, there for, he didn't ask for you all directly." E stood up straight as he looked around the table, "the kazakage asked to see you all in person, that doesn't mean he has to see your faces, and I've already prepared disguises for all of you."

 

Hinata cheered, "yay! we get to go undercover!"

 

"Aww we want to go too," whiled the littler kids at the table.

 

"Don't worry, you five will get to go during the last stage of the exams so we can all watch it together," Shukaku said with a smile, he patted Menma on his head, making him smile too.

 

"Hay dad, what about the mission request they got now that they're genin? Would they have time to do them before they?" Asked Yugito

 

"The chunin exams or in a few months times, they have plenty of times to go on official mission before going the exams," E re-assured her. 

 

 


	14. Suna travels and secret boxes

It's officially been two months since A took over for E as the rikage, with the help of Shukaku and Mabui as his assistants, A could suffer at the hand of the dreaded stacks of paper. Every kage's one true enemy. Right now we find the others on their way to Suna, minus the kids that were six and under. Naruto was traveling in a simple light sleeveless summer dress, matching brackets on both wrist. A dark blue head band tied up on top of his head in a bunny ear fashion and matching slip on open toed shoes to show off his cleanly painted manicured toes. His very curly golden blond hair was pulled back into a high pony tail, because of how much it had grown since he left the walls of Konoha, the pony tail stopped in the middle of his upper back even with the way it curled. Every so often a breeze would blow that would catch some strands of the curled gold, making it dance on the wind and show off his newly parsed ears, one side of a pair of blue and green yin/yang studded earrings was placed on each lobe. A matching dark blue choker adorned his neck with a silver fox shaped tag that he got from Hinata for his eighth birthday, and in his arms was Kibo with a matching collar around his neck. Naruto also had on a slightly over sized navy blue hoodie with a symbol on the back along with his seal bag over one of his shoulders.

 

Next to Naruto was Shikamaru, he was wearing a dark green summer kimono style jacket, it was open in the front and had light green patterns in the form of curved lines and and medium sized dots. Under that he wore a white sleeveless t-shirt that depicted a grassy green field at the bottom edge of the shirt. He wore dark green ANBU style jeans with matching Chucks. On his head sat a pair of new goggles that he got from Haku on his ninth birthday, they were much smoother and cool looking than his other ones, they also had more features  added to it thanks to Gaara. Around his neck sat a dark green choker with a silver fox tag, much like Naruto, and Jin was wearing a collar around his neck in the same color as Shikamaru, much like Kibo. Hinata thought it would be a good idea to let people know that Kibo and Jin weren't just random fox's that Naruto and Shikamaru brought with them, he also had a symbol on the back of his kimono style jacket with his sealing bag on his left shoulder, opposite Naruto's shoulder.

 

Following behind Naruto and Shikamaru was Gaara. Gaara was wearing mostly red with some yellow, he had a dark red half jacket on with no sleeves and a slightly over sized hood, he usually had his hood up whenever he was outside the village. The jacket only covered most of his chest and the top of his stomach, under that was a dark yellow shirt with red flames at the bottom, like Shikamaru's shirt, the shirt that Gaara had on was long sleeved with the end of the sleeves mirroring the bottom of the shirt. His pants was ANBU styled jeans in the same color as his jacket with dark yellow flames at the bottom, his shoes was red Chucks like Shikamaru's, while he had a red dog collar on that read 'Flaming Sand Master' on a silver tag. It was a special gift that he got from the one and only Naruto on his ninth birthday, this gift, much like his gourd, was treasured because it came from his secret crush, his jacket had a symbol on the back as well to match the others. He also got a sealing bag from the fox on his eighth birthday, so did Hinata and Haku.

 

Next to Gaara was Hinata, with her change in appearance, she no longer wore the clothes she would have when she was still a timid little girl. Her hair was silvery-white with dark purple eyes, she was no longer the shy little girl that she used to be, no she was more bold now. She wore a skin tight, but not too tight, dark gray ANBU style jeans-shorts that came down to her mid thy, she wore a pair of black thy-high stockings that stop just an inch above her knee. Her top was fitted to hug her curves, or what little curve she did have so far. The shirt was dark green sleeveless and backless shirt made to look like a button down shirt in the front, a polo collar around the neck that had a hood attached under said collar. Being a little modest, she wore an over sized white yellow hoodie that was open up in the front to show off her outfit, the over sized hoodie had a symbol and she wore a choker like Naruto and Shikamaru, but hers was a dark purple to match her eyes and bag. But her tag was of a butterfly, her silvery-white hair was done up into a messy bun and was held together with chopsticks that crisscrossed in the bun, there were golden bells hanging from the edge of the chopsticks that would chime every so often in the wind. 

 

Lastly, Haku was walking a little behind Shikamaru as they traveled, he wore a simple white long sleeved t-shirt with that had that hugged his body well. Over that he had on a light purple sleeveless jacket like Gaara's with the same symbol on the back, his ANBU styled jeans came down three quarters of the from his ankles. They his shoes were a casual open toe style like Naruto's own, but his was a light gray to match his pants, for his hair, it was already long before the transformation, so now it reached all the way down to the top of his butt. He usually wore his hair in a high pony like Naruto, sometimes a bun like Hinata but that depended on how hot the day was, his neck had a light purple dog collar on it, much like Gaara's own. But his own said 'Deadly Mist Demon' on a silver tag, he had his own seal bag like the rest of his non-related siblings, he also had a pair of studded earring on in the shape of angel wings.

 

Haku, Gaara, and Hinata all got their own personal fox familiar that had been bonded to them: Gaara's familiar had turned his eyes into a Jasmine color, while the fox's fur turned a sandy yellow, he named the fox Aiko. Hinata's familiar gained her dark purple eyes while his fur took on a silvery-white with gold mixed in, she named the fox Soul. Haku's familiar's fur turned a whitish golden color with black tips on his ears, tail, and paws, he named his fox Ren. All the fox's had collars that matched their master'sin color, also all five kids had gotten their ears parsed after their first mission as genin. Shikamaru's was the shape of a light green fox head and Gaara's was in the shape of a red and yellow yin/yang symbol like Naruto's. Their sealing bags also took after whatever color skim the owner was wearing at day, an added effect from Hati and Hidi, the same two that taught all of them how to fight in three major style of the fox clan: Hidden Tail, Rising Paw, and Dashing Windmill. With the the five kids and their familiars was E, the former rikage, and his 'wife' Kurama, over the past few months since the watched all five 10 year old's become genin, they couldn't be prouder parents. Shukaku was also in the process of training them in his own style: Maddening Sand, but as for now, they were already in Wind Country to be the kazakage's guest for the chunin exams this year. They only hand about a days run ahead of them and they would need to stop for the night to rest before picking up traveling in the morning.

 

* * *

* * *

 

 

**Meanwhile in Konoha**

 

It's been about three years since Minato and his wife started looking for their four lost sons, it took Kushina a little over a year and a half to notice that her triplets were missing along with Naruto. She kept wondering what they had done to make them feel the need to run from the village. Minato had taken the time to look through all of the family albums, well when he actually had time that is, to see if he could find a recent picture of Naruto and the triplets. He looked and looked but couldn't find picture a lot pictures from them when they were born up until Naruto was about three or two and some where the triplets were one. However, when he took a good look at the picture, he noticed that all four boys looked a little sad as they smiled for the camera. The only picture he could find with any of them smiling was when Naruto was holding each one of the triplets after they were born, they weren't looking at the camera, but at each other. Minato found it to be the sweetest thing ever, he just wished that they were looking at the camera because he was getting the feeling that any family photo that they took together was always a forced smile, a distracted gaze, or they were taken by surprised by the camera's presents. It worried Minato, he wondered when all that started, his four missing sons not wanting to be seen taking pictures with them.

 

"Hay Minato, look at this, I found some more pictures and some videos while I was cleaning up Naruto's room," Kushina said happily as she walked into the room carrying three box's.

 

"Really, well let me see," Minato said as they sat down on the ground and went through all the pictures in the box's. The first box was filled with pictures, the second had a few books that looked to be scrap books, and the third was filled with DVD, "when did we take these?" 

 

Kushina looked over at the pictures that Minato had laid out on the floor in front of them. The picture was of Naruto in what looked to be training gear, his curly blond hair was held back in a messy curly mess of a pony tail as he did push ups on the ground. The one next to that was also of Naruto but he was standing in front of a gigantic birthday cake, he was hugging a red haired man with what looked to be decorative fox ears on his head. The two seemed to be at a party with a bunch of people that Minato nor Kushina know, all of which also had fox ears on their heads, and the Namikaze family was no were in sight. Kushina picked out another picture from the first box, this one had Shikamaru and Naruto it with wooden swords in hadn, the red haired man looked like he was teaching them something. "Who's this man?" Kushina asked Minato, thinking that her husband had hired him to teach their son without her knowing, "I don't think I've seen him before."

 

"I don't know who he is, but so far, he's come up in almost every picture I've seen so far of Naruto and his friend." Minato said as he took out another picture from the box, this one had the triplets in it along with Naruto, Shikamaru, and... the red haired man, "hay look at this one." He said handing over the picture to his wife, Kushina looked at the way that all five boys were smiling at the camera, covered in mud and dirt but looked to be about as happy as can be. In the behind them she could see a red haired woman this time, the woman was holding up the younger boy of the triplets, Neko, in her arms, and in the background was a pool. "Do you know, or maybe, have you seen this woman around the village before?" Minato asked his wife, he got a sense of dread whn she looked at him and slowly shook her head.

 

"What doe this mean Minato? Who are these people and what have they done with our children?!" Kushina asked desperately.

 

Minato thought about the situation for a bit before his eyes landed on the third and second box, "I don't know, but maybe these box's may hold the key." He said as he took out a random DVD marked 'Naru and Shika a year with the fox', he put the disk into the DVD play, clicked on the tv, and watched as the video played. 

 

_Video_

 

 

_"Hay Naru, you and Shika just broke the record for smartest summoner ever, how do you feel?" Said an energetic red head on the scream as she pretended to interview Naruto._

 

_The camera got a close up on Naruto as he giggled, "I'd say that you're just saying that, I didn't even do all that much."_

 

_Suddenly Shikamaru showed up and hooked an arm around Naruto's neck, "oh come on Naruto, you just gave me, a Nara, a run for my money. I'd say that's more than enough to get the title of smartest summoner," the young Nara cheered._

 

_"Well if you put it that way," Naruto said as he scratched the back of his head with a wide grin, suddenly someone announced that there was cake and the two boy's facing the camera ran off._

 

"When was this? I don't remember," Kushina said and Minato shrugged his shoulder as the video changed screens.

 

_On the screen Naruto and Shikamaru was sparing, "alright you two, I thing that's enough for today, come and get something to eat!" Yelled the same red head from before._

 

_The camera turned back to the two boys before they dashed in side, the camera following them all the way. Once inside, Neko could be seen reading a book with a red haired man, "okay Neko, now red this line," said boy nodded and read the line perfectly without stuttering, the man clapped, "very good now you can have a snack with Naru and Shika." A happy 'yay' came from the little boy before sliding off the man's lap._

 

_"You seemed to become very motherly ever since you saved little Naru's life last year, ne Kurama,_ _" said the camera person._

 

_The now named Kurama got off the chair he was on to stair at the camera person, he rolled his eyes, "are you going to be filming everything that happens now, Hidi?"_

 

_The camera turned around to face the newly named Hidi, she gave a foxy grin, "you better believe your buns I will," she said as the sound of Kurama gr_ _oaning and walking away could be heard._

 

_The screen changed to more random things like Naruto and Shikamaru being trained by Kurama, or playing pranks with Neko hand Hati. It showed some scenes were Hidi and fox Hinata was teaching Naruto and Shikamaru howto make a rack of lamb, and some more scenes were Kurama was either teaching Neko how to read and Right. Or just training Naruto and Shikamaru sealing techniques that he knew. there was even some_ _scenes_ _were both boys were training with their own familiars. Then the last scene started to play, "so Naru, Shika, what do you wanna be when you grow up?" Asked Hati._

 

_Naruto got a thoughtful look on his face while Shika spoke, "well I want to have a normal life as possible," he said._

 

_"Oh? But after spending time with us, is that really what you want?" Kurama asked._

 

_Shika thought for a moment, "well yes and no, I do want to have a c_ _lose to normal life as possible, but since I met grandpa, I'm thinking that I want to take over for him one say. You know, be the fox sage or just the Cloud Reader for the clan, I think it would suit me."_

 

_"You got that right, kit," Hidi laughed as she patted Shika on the head, "ain't no one gonna read the clouds like you."_

 

_"And what about you Naruto? Have you decided what you want to be when you get older?" Hati asked._

 

_Naruto nodded, "when I was three I wanted to be just like my dad, he's the hokage of the village and I was told that he was very strong and smart. But..."_

 

Minato was filled with pride when he heard that Naruto had wanted to be like him, but then he heard the long pause after 'but' and deflated.

 

_"....But after everything that's happened in the past year or so, I don't think that I want to do that any more," Naruto finished._

 

_"So what do you want to do, kit?" Hidi asked as everyone looked at him._

 

_Naruto got a determined look on his face, "I'm going to get stronger and build my own village one day were any kid that feels like they've been neglected can come to live. I also want to build a place where all the jinturiky, no matter where they come from or what they're life was like before, I want to make sure that they are seen as the true hero's that they ought to be, ya'know? It's gonna be way better than all the other villages that hurt and miss treat the jinturiky, because we'll only accept people that want to befriend them and treat them how they should be treated. Instead of being beaten for something they couldn't control and being ignored like I was." He then turned to the camera "...and if anyone ever finds this video before they watch the others, then I say that you're in for a real treat when you get to them."_

 

_Video end_

 

Once the video was over, Minato and Kushina spent the rest of the day watching all the other DVD's in the third box, as well as went through all the pictures and albums in the second and first box. They were glued to their seats as they watched all the videos, some where of Naruto and Shikamaru learning and training under Kurama, some were of the times when Neko and his older brothers were playing with the other little fox kids. Those were the nicer ones, it wasn't until they got to third DVD that they were confronted with the truth about Naruto and the village. They saw how the villagers would sometimes beat Naruto's clones and do other things to the poor blond that no three year old should go through, but due to the amount of damage that the young blond had went through at such a young age, his brine naturally blocked it out. They watched in horror on one video were they saw how they themselves acted around Naruto while he was still their, there was one video that showed how the neglect really started.

 

It was when Naruto was just only one years old, the video was taken from a restaurant, the screen showed the whole family was eating and having fun. Then something happened, Naruto, who had been sitting at the end of the table suddenly fell from his chair, but no one seemed to notice this for some reason. They just went on being a happy go lucky family until it was time to leave, which was a whole hour and a half after little Naruto fell, when they finally got up from their chairs, Kushina was completely focused on Narumi while Minato looked to be counting the number of children that was walking out with them. For a good two minute after they left the room, a one year old Naruto lay on the ground unmoving, the way he fell from the chair could have killed any other toddler. When three minutes went by, Naruto finally started to move again, although the little blond did have a small trail of blood coming down the side of his head, Naruto looked around the room for hisfamily before looking up to the camera, for just a second, Minato and Kushina thought that he was looking right at them until he turned in the direction that the past Namikaze had went. The video then switched to another scene, a scene that Minato and Kushina was starting to remember, the realization dawned on them and Kushina turned of the tv before it could show anymore, she sat there crying tears of sorrow as she remembered that very day.

 

However, Minato didn't know the full details that happened that day so he took the remote from Kushina and turned the tv back on, the screen flickered back to life, playing were it had left of. He saw Naruto on the security cameras that were posted all round the village, he could see the rest of the family walking as Naruto tried to catch up with them, it even looked like he was calling out to them. They had stopped walking once Naruto came into the screen that held the whole family, they seemed to be worrying about him after they saw the blood on his head. The scene changed again as it showed the entrants to the hospital, a nurse came and took Naruto away to check him over. The video did a time laps for a while before the tv went off again, Minato looked down at his hands where he thought the remote still was, but it wasn't, he looked over to see that his wife had turned off the tv once again. "Kushina?" Minato asked, he tried to take the remote back from her but she pulled it out of his grasp, shaking her head, "Kuahina, please, I want to- no I need to see what happens next."

 

She shook her head, "no."

 

"Why not?" Minato asked her.

 

"B-because you wont like what you see..."

 


	15. Reunions in Suna!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update, but here you go, enjoy.

Naruto, Shikamaru, Hinata, Gaara, and Haku entered through the gates of the sand village closely followed by their adoptive parents, E and Kurama. The small group of seven walked until they were met by a local ninja of the village, a jonin going by the name of Baki, the very same man that got half cooked by Naruto himself not only a few month's before. It was a little awkward when the two saw each other, not that Baki could tell who he was underneath his slyly chosen fox mask, however, the curly blond hair did remind the sand jonin of Naruto very much, since he's never met anyone else with such hair before. But since he was given ordered from the forth Kazakage NOT to seek revenge on the curly haired blond, and to lead the group the tower as soon as they arrive, he had no time to press the issue of who looked like who. Baki grumbled as he remembered the warning he was given and tried to be as kind as he possibly could as he showed the group to the kage tower. When all seven, plus Baki, entered the kage's office, Raza thanked the sand jonin before dismissing him. He then turned his attention to the five masked children and the two adults behind them, one child, most likely female, had blond curly hair and was wearing the mask of a fox, complete with slighted eyes and a mischievous smirk. The one next to the blond girl, had long raven hair on a high, spiky pony tail and was wearing the mask of a smirking sloth, their were a set of googles resting on his head just over the mask making it look like the mask was wearing it and not the person underneath. Next was girl with hair that seemed to shimmer a silvery-white, she wore the mask of a panda that had a small purple heart in the center of it's forehead. Next her was a boy who's hair seemed to shine an angelic white even when the sun wasn't directly on it, this person wore the mask of a rabbit with the same mischief written on it's face as the fox mask. Lastly was a red head, his was was easily a tanuki with rings around it's eyes, the boy's red hair and posture reminded Raza a lot of the young son that had ran away about three years ago now.

 

"Ahem, rikage-sama, how are you doing?" Raza asked as he stood to his feet from behind his desk, "I'm sure you're all tired from your trip. Please, have a seat."

 

"Thank you, kazakage-sama," E said said as he sat in once of the chairs provided for them in the office before hand. He waited until Kurama and the kids sat down in their own seats before speaking again, "so, Raza, how is this going to work out?" He asked seriously, not wanting to wait any time in getting to the point.

 

"Yes, the exams will be starting the day after tomorrow so you all will have a day or so to rest before the events start," Raza nodded. "I will be showing you where you will be staying as the exams take place," he said as he got up from his chair and made his way to the door, E got up from his seat with a light chuckle. "Hm? Is something funny?" He asked as the other kids started giggling as well as they followed the adults out of the room.

 

"No, no, I just found it amusing that you would rather take the time to show us the way to our hotel rooms rather than stay in your office to take on your enemy," E stated with a another chuckle.

 

Raza looked at E confused for a second before turning back to look at his desk, he frowned and sighed, "I guess there's nothing else that can be done now, that enemy will still be here when I get back. That's if it didn't multiple in the time I've been gone," he grumbled the last part to himself as he started walking down the hall followed by the group, the kids heard his last comment on the evil paper work on the sand kage's desk and giggled some more. The Kazakage led the group out of the office into the village and down to the more tourist centered section of the village, he showed them all the sights that his village was known for. He showed them where the best restaurants were in the village before leading them to the hotel that he picked out for them to stay at, "and here we are, this hotel has gotten grate reviews from other travelers in the past, so I thought you all would like it as well." Raza said with a smile as they entered the building, they checked in and he led them up to there rooms, trying to buy more time before he had to go back to the dreaded paperwork. When they got there, the kids picked their own rooms while the adults talked about the exams, they were placed in the grandest suit that the hotel had with the options of either sharing a room with each other or not. The kids chose to share three and two to a room, the adults would share a room together obviously.

 

"So, E, in this years chunin exams, are you letting them take part with the other teams? Or are you waiting until next year when they're a little more experienced as genin?" Raza asked as they sat around the table in Kurama's and E's room.

 

E thought for a moment, "well, no, I was hoping to wait until they were at least twelve before putting them through the exams," he said in calm tone as he leaned back in his seat.

 

"Twelve?" Raza asked with a puzzled face, "I was under the impression that they were already at that age and that most of them were just a little short for their age."

 

Kurama chuckled, "no way, they actually just turned eleven last month, actually, so they'll be in the chunin exams next year."

 

Raza blinked, "how old were they when they became genin?"

 

"Ten," E and Kurama said together, this shocked Raza.

 

"I had no idea that you tested you ninja so young, rikage-sama," he said to the muscular male in front of him.

 

E let out a heartfelt laugh, "I didn't know either."

 

Raza was confused again by this comment, so Kurama enlightened the kazakage on what his husband meant by that, "they faced off against some ninja that tried to attack us a few months ago. They had a bet to see who could take out the most ninja's before the other or something like that," he sighed, "they ended up taking out all the ninja's were attacking, all but two."

 

"Two?" Raza thought in awe as he remembered what the red head said before, "when you say they 'took them out', what did you mean, did they..."

 

Kurama nodded, "yes, they took them all out before E and I could even lift a finger to help them out. We were both forced to sit on the side lines and watch with one of our other ninja's that had come with us that day."

 

E nodded his agreement, "to tell the truth, I think that they were really showing off how well their training has gone up to that point," he said as he looked to his wife. "Especially our little seal master, don't you think?" Kurama nodded, "what level was he on back then anyways?"

 

Kurama thought for a minute, "hmmm....I believe that his sensei said that he was on level Alpha, while the others were just finishing Mastery level, I think."

 

E nodded, he was still in awe that there were still levels higher than Master level in sealing, at least another two or three if he remembered correctly. The sealing levels started from Entry level and went all the way up to Mastery level, or so people had thought. About a month after Naruto's and the others collective tenth birthdays, they all took a family trip back to Uzu to pay their respects to all the Uzumaki's that died there the day that Iwa and Kiri attacked it. When they got there, Naruto was taking another look around the place, looking at all of his family history in ruins, it was very heart braking and nostalgic at the same time. They spent two days there before returning to Kumo, on the night that they were going to leave, Gaara had stumbled onto a secret chamber that they didn't see when they were their the first time around. The chamber went deep under Uzu in an array of twist and turns with a collection of tunnels that popped up everywhere around Uzu, they had almost gotten lost a few times while trying to get out of the tunnels, they ended up staying an extra day there trying to get out. From what Kurama and E had gathered about the chambers and tunnels under Uzu, it seemed that you would have to know some fuuinjutsu that was a level higher than entry level to find your way around the tunnels down here. It was in these tunnels that Naruto and Shikamaru found a room in one of the tunnels that spoke of the extra levels of fuuinjutsu, the third day was spent trying to figure out the complex array of seals and how they could be used, since these seals had many ways that it could be used, not just in battle but also in healing and revival. It was sort of like alchemy in a way, seeing as how some of the seals required something in exchange to make something different using the thing that was used.

 

The new levels spoke of all the things that they could do with them, however, some of the seals that required something had some important rules that came with them. The biggest rule that they had was that they could not bring back a human life, or any life for that matter, since it went against the laws of nature. If they were to attempt this act, they would have to pay the ultimate price that could result in them having to give up their own lives in order to complete the seal. The laws of equivalent exchange worried E, Kurama, and especially Shukaku, the two tail beast had been around for a long time and knew of these rulesm they spoke to E about their past experiences with people that had went against these rules and what had happened to them in the end, it was a pretty thought. Although there were so many thing that went wrong, there were still people that went against these rules to get what they wanted, whatever that might have been in the beginning, they still got what they were looking for, but not at all in the way they were hoping for. These bone chilling tales were later told and explained to Naruto and the others when they all able to get back to Kumo safe and sound, with these events being told to the kids, it was explained that they could still use the new seals. E gave his consent for the kids to study these seals, however, they were forbidden form using them in anyway tat went against the rules of equivalent exchange, he didn't have to threaten them with anything if they went against these rules for any reason. From what he learned from Kurama and Shukaku, nature was cruel and would take what was due to it if it's rules were ever disobeyed. no matter the cost to the person, it was a steep price to pace to go over the line. One example of these new seal would be the Shadow King summoning of Felt Doc, that seal is very dangerous, releasing that seal onto the world would cause a lot of problems if not used correctly by a proper seal master.

 

In short, the Shadow King, Felt Doc, is a very real being that ruled over the shadow realm. Summoning him would force the cost the caster to sacrifice many lives, depending on what the caster wanted from the Shadow King, he would have to draw and place exactly eight seals for Felt to review the situation at hand. If Felt feels that the lives being offered up for his serves is good enough for him to help out, he will. If not, he will just send one of his lower kings to deal with the problem at hand, removing one of the seals himself from the battle field that the caster had placed before the summoning and review, this in turn would cause WAY MORE damage than before. The eight seal were meant to lesson the range and amount of damage that is caused as a whole when the power the caster is given the green light to complete the jutsu, which would only take about the same amount of time it takes to say all that needs to be said by the caster before everything went BOOM. Not that E thought back to the situation during the battle, he remembered the moment that he felt Naruto placing the eight seals, if they had that kind of power in the second, or third for that matter, ninja war, then there would have been a major power shift in the Elemental Nations back then. The most power going to the village that held the caster that was powerful enough to summon the Shadow King's second faze, E mentally shivered at the thought.  _"That kind of power would make all nine tailed beast seem like dollies next to that person, I wouldn't want that kind of raw power to be aimed at me in a battle, and I was said to be unbeatable in the war."_ He sighed,  _"at least I know those five wont use use their powers for evil."_

 

"Rikage-sama?" Raza asked as he drew the man's attention to him, "are you alright, you seemed to have spaced out on us for a moment."

 

E shook his head with a small chuck, "sorry, sorry, I was just thinking about how far my kids have come after so much time had past. It seems like just yesterday that they were fighting over who got the last piece of French Toast for breakfast," he laughed at the memory.

 

Kurama sweat dropped, "E, hon, I believe that actually this morning before we started off to the gates this morning."

 

"Really?" E thought back to earlier that morning, he recalled that just that morning, Naruto and Hinata had teamed up against Shikamaru and Haku to fight each other for the last piece of French Toast that they had brought with them before leaving Kumo. He also remembered that while the four were fighting, it was Gaara who ate the last piece they were fighting for, as well as finishing off the scrambled eggs and bacon that was left in the frying pan over the fire that morning. They don't eat ration bars and the like anymore because they taste nasty compared to all the yummy food that Naruto, Shikamaru, and now Gaara, was able to make while at home. E sighed at the memory, "I see, then it seems that they're children at heart still," he smiled brightly, "oh well, that just means that things at the diner to night should be just as lively, huh?"

 

Kurama hung his head as his husband laughed at the thought of what was to happen at dinner to night, he turned to the kazakage. He stood up and bowed deeply ,"on behalf of my husband and children, I apologies," he said to a confused Raza.

 

"A-am I-am I missing something here?" He asked the red headed male in front of him.

 

Kurama lifted his head, "as my husband had said, dinner will be lively tonight," he lowed his head again, "so before then, I just wanted to apologies for them."

 

"Oh? Is it something that bad?" Raza said, he then thought about his other two children that he didn't turn into weapons for the sake of the village, they seemed to have started to miss their little brother after they found out tat he was gone. He himself didn't like the fact that he allowed the weapon to escape to easily, it seems that the people that took him had come into the village without being noticed and took the boy without raising any alarms. It wasn't until Yashimaru had burst into the council room yelling about how the little red head was gone that they noticed, it was more than a little odd to him. Suna may not have been as big as Konoha, so that meant that there wasn't a lot of places for a child to hid from a trained ninja. But when Raza got home, he found Tamari and Konkuro searching the kitchen food to cook, when he went to go ask Gaara if he had any idea where all the food went, he found no one there so he realized that Gaara wasn't in the village since he and their food had suddenly just went missing. "Hmm, would you mind if I join you, I think that my own kids could benefit from being around so skilled young ninjas, plus they have been a little down since my youngest son ran away."

 

Kurama looked over at E, they shrugged, "sure, why not, it's been a while since we've gone out to eat anyways," stated E as he got up. "We usually end up having a lot of home cooked meals whenever we're all at home anyways, so it would be nice to go out to eat with some new friends once in a while."

 

"Then it's settled," Raza nodded with a smile.

* * *

 

 

_With the kids_

 

Meanwhile, the adults were talking, the kids gathered in one of the rooms that was being shared between them. "Alright, lets take these off, they're gone on papa's and mama's room to talk," Haku said as he removed his rabbit mask revealing the bright amber eyes underneath. He smiled brightly, making him look even more like a effeminate angel, he turned to Gaara as everyone took off their own mask, "so Gaara, how does it feel to be back in your own village again?"

 

Gaara took off his tanuki mask and frowned at the amber eye'd boy, "I would rather watch paint dry to be back here," he deadpanned.

 

Naruto put his fox mask in his sealing bag, "has anything changed about the village since you left?"

 

Gaara shook his head and went to sit on one of the large beds out of the three beds in the room, Shikamaru took off his mask and put it into his sealing bag. He then pulled his headphones that were hanging around his neck and put it in his bag as well before taking out a stack of letters then walking over to the table placed at the center of the room. Hinata sat down at te table next to him after putting her own mask in her bag, along with her over sized jacket, letting the world see her 'high school civilian girl on vacation'-like look (why she needed to know it that, they would never know), "is those from your dad?" She asked as she set down her bag at her feet.

 

The others knew that Shikamaru had found a way to get letters to his dad to keep in touch with him, they were happy that he still had someone in konoha that he could trust. Gaara and Hinata helped him find the way to get the letters to the other village without it being caught by security or read by others before hand, they placed a blood seal on the envelope before putting the letter inside it so that the only person that can read what's inside was the person it's meant for. Using this method, Shikamaru was able to send tons of pictures and letters about ho he was doing with his new family and how his training was going, in all of Shikaku's letters, it was clear that he was very proud to call Shikamaru his son. Though he was a bit sad to know that his son wasn't just his son anymore, however, he got over that when Shikamaru explained to him that he was still a Nara, but he was also related to the rikage, Kurama, and was also an Uzumaki like Gaara. Naruto was the only full blooded Uzumaki among them, but since the blood ritual they went through when they were seven, they were just as much of an Uzuamki as he was, but with an added boost.

 

The others in the room came over to stand around the table, siting in whatever seat was available, "what do they say?" Naruto asked on Shikamaru's other side.

 

"Well," Shikamaru said with a big grin, "it seems that the hokage has sent him over to suna so that he could try to meet us. Not that he knew that dad would be meeting us, but more like the members of the Big Five."

 

"Whoa, seriously? He's coming here, to see us?" Haku said in surprise.

 

"Does he know that it's us that he's meeting?" Gaara asked looking over Shika's should to see the letter.

 

"Dad does, cuz I told him, but the hokage doesn't since all our faces in the bingo book doesn't show our whole faces," Shika explained.

 

"When will he get here?" Hinata asked.

 

"Donno," Shika shrugged as he handed Gaara the letter to look over.

 

"Actually, from the date and time of this letter, he should already be here," said the red headed tanuki holder.

 

"Wow, we should go out and meet him then, maybe even have dinner with him while we're at it," Naruto pipped up.

 

"That does sound like a good idea, Naru-chan, it's getting pretty late out though, do you think he's still away?" Hinata chimed in.

 

The others looked at the sky outside their window, it was already a little past sun down since they meet with the kazakage and got their rooms. Haku shrugged, "it's not that late, unless he came in from konoha not too long ago, he should still be up, right, Shika?"

 

Shika nodded, "yeah, he's mostly up late anyways, since we left the leaf, the hokage's really been on him to spare as many jonin as he could. He said in one letter that the search was starting to get close to lightening country and that we should watch out on our way back home just in case someone spots us without our masks on."

 

"So you told him who has what mask on and everything?" Asked Naruto.

 

"I've been sending him enough pictures of is without them that he should be able to tell who's who just from our hair and our clothes style. Trust me, putting on our mask would only fool whatever teammate he's come with," Shika stated as he stretched his muscles. 

 

"Oh darn, I was just thinking that we could switch mask to see if he could remember who's who under it or something," Naruto shrugged.

 

"Maybe we can still fool him," Haku thought out loud, the others looked at him.

 

"What'cha men?" They asked together.

 

"Well, last time I checked, Shika mostly sent his dad pics of us when we were out and about, getting ready for school and other missions. But has he ever sent any of us in our casual clothes?" 

 

They thought about it for a few seconds, Shika shook his head with a smile, "oh, okay, I see where you're going with this," he said.

 

"Well, if that settles everything, lets get ready for dinner!" Naruto said as he punched the air with his fist.

* * *

 

 

_With Shikaku_

 

Shikaku woke up from his nape in his hotel room, when he came to suna, he had already done an S-rank mission before returning to the village that left him without much sleep before hand. When he got back to the village and turned in his report, he went straight home for a nape, he was woken up an hour later by an ANBU who had snuck into his house at some point and almost got his head chopped of by the tired jonin commander when he went to wake said man up. Shikaku had apologized for the misunderstandings and was told to got to the tower to see the hokage for another assignment. He humored Minato and went to the tower to se what the older blond wanted to tell him, when he was given the news that he would have to forego another night without sleep, he named Minato a reserved cures word that he only gave out to people were especially troublesome to him. Needless to say, all the other members in the room, team nine had been in the room giving a report on their first C-rank mission at the time, were shocked to hear that word come out of his mouth. And direct it to the hokage of all people, but Shikaku gave zero fucks at the time since he was just so tired. But he obeyed either way and took the mission, knowing that it would be more troublesome if he didn't, besides, it would give him a much needed break from Yoshino, the woman he  _wished_ could be his ex-wife. After Shikamaru ran away/escaped from the village, Yoshino kept bugging him for another child, what a woman, huh? When she didn't get what she wanted right away, she threatened him with divorce, which he was all too ready to go through, so her plan didn't work. Next she tried getting him drunk without him knowing it, that didn't work because then she found out the secret that he was never in love with her to begin with, that their marriage was nothing but show. 

 

When that little secret came out, the relationship between Shikaku and Yoshino became strained, but the woman would not ask for a divorce, no matter how much he wanted her to. Eventually, they just started sleeping in separate rooms, acting as if they were just college roommate that couldn't have the roommate they wanted to live with, so they have to live with a stranger that they don't know, nor like. Some people, like all nosy people, found out about their relationship, those that found out, the female side, sided with Yoshino on how unfair the relationship was to her, while the main sided with Shikaku on how it was unfair to him. Shikaku didn't really pay much attention to what other people had thought, he just focused his attention on his missions and the letters that he would get from his son. It seemed that it only took about a week for the letters that he writes to reach his son, he wasn't sure on how the letters were getting in and out of his house when he was done writing them, but he was glade that they were getting to him. The first time it happened, Shikamaru had written him a letter and told him to just leave it on the desk when he was done and he would get it, Shikaku was puzzled by this, be humored the boy and did as told. As soon as he turned around after writing his reply, he heard the sound of paper blowing in the wind and turned to see a white  dove-like bird flying away from his window, a week later, he got another letter from his son saying that he had received his letter and to keep sending more as often as he could. Not wanting to question it, he wrote his son almost every day, that's if he wasn't stuck in the office, or on a mission the day that Shikamaru letter arrived.

 

There was once when Yoshino had almost found out about the letter, he had to transform the paper into the first thing that he could think of, which so happened to be an Ichi Ichi book. It was a little embarrassing to be seen with one period, they got into an argument over it, but Shikaku was able to retreat to his room without letting her get the transformed letter out of his hands and find out about the line of communication he had with his son. Anyways, after the left the tower, he went to his pris-home to pack the things that he would need for the trip to suna before heading out to the gate. This mission was labeled as a B rank mission so he didn't need any real help with it, but Minato had made the choice to send along Kakashi Hatake on this mission with him. Shikaku grumbled about it being troublesome, the mission and Kakashi, but his grumbling came to a halt when he found out what they were going to suna for. It was no secret on how there was a new group of ninjas that took up about seven page in the bingo book to describe some of their abilities alone, the group was made up of five members so far, but some people suspected that there were more. The group of ninja's were described to be around the ages of around ten to twelve, very strong, and had a SS rank flee on sight warning given by some unlucky kiri ninjas, and a combined bounty of 7,000,000 ryo from both kir and iwa. When he asked Shikamaru if he knew about the Big Five, as they were called in he book, he was shocked to find out that he was apart of the group. Finding out that Naruto, Gaara, Haku, and Hinata were apart of the group as well, in fact Menma, Koharu, and Neko were catching up to them and would join the group when they also became genin was another shock. But not as much as hearing that his son had made genin when he was only ten years old along side the other four filled Shikaku's heat with pride.

 

It took Shikaku and Kakashi around two and a half days to arrive, they had stopped once so that Shikaku could rest seeing as how he was already running on fumes. They were told that the people that they were there to see hadn't arrived yet, so Shikaku went to his hotel room to sleep off his exhaustion before he really collapsed, the rest did him well and now he was ready to get up to see if he could meet up with his son, that's if they had arrived yet. He looked around the room to see that Kakashi wasn't there, this was good because he was thinking about writing a letter to Shikamaru to tell him where he was and also to see where Shikamaru and his group was so they could meet up. He doubted that he would have to wait a whole week for the reply like all the others, maybe an hour or two, so that's what he did. Getting out of bed and heading over to the desk on the other side of the room, across from the bed he slept in, he took out some of the special paper that his son told him to use when writing their letter, he got to work writing a short letter before leaving it on the desk to take a shower. When he was half way over to the door, he heard the familiar flapping sound of paper in the wind and turned to see a white dove-like bird flying away from hotel window. He was about to turn back around to head to the bathroom, when he saw the bird take a sudden turn and fly upwards to the higher floors of the hotel he was in before going out of view. "Hm, maybe I don't have to wait an hour after all," he thought out loud with a small smile as he headed to the bathroom, he remembered that he had written his son a letter the day before they got to wind country, he was sure that this new letter would be a surprise to Shikamaru and his friends.

* * *

 

 

_Back with the kids_

 

Back in the room with Shikamaru and the others, they were all in the middle of putting the finishing touches of their casual clothes, looking more like civilians than ninja, when they heard the sound of flapping. They turned to face the window and saw a paper dove faze itself into the room through the closed window with ease, Shikamaru stopped what he was doing when he noticed that the bird was made of paper. He held out his hand for the paper bird to land, when it was just above his palm, the bird turned into an envelope with a bright red seal with the Nara clan symbol covering the sealed flap that locked the letter inside of it. "That's a letter from your dad, isn't it?" Haku stated as the rest of the group came over to stand around him, Shikamaru was just looking at the letter in awe for a few moments. He had never gotten a letter back so soon before, he's tested this method out many times and found that the seal that he put on the paper to make sure that even if it was raining or windy on the way, the letter would always take no more than a week to get to his dad. He's never been able to test the letter at a closer range to see how long it would take to get back, so he didn't think that his dad could have been so close now. They've never been so close before, not since he left.

 

"Shika!" Naruto said snapping the young Nara out of his shock, he turned green eyes onto mismatching blue and green ones. They wore worry in those mismatching pools, "it's okay, he's close, so it's good, alright?" Shika nodded his head dumbly as he slowly turned back to the letter in his hands, Naruto placed a caring hand on the boy's shoulder and squeezed it gently so the other would know that he was there, "why don't you read it to find out what it says?"

 

Shika opened the letter by biting his thumb and wiping the blood on the seal, he read the short letter to himself:

 

_Hay Shika-chan_

 

_I know I sent you a letter yesterday to let you know that I was coming to Suna to meat the members of the Big Five on orders of the hokage and all. I also noticed that I forgot to mention how far away or how long it would take to get there, that's my bad. I was thinking that once you get here that we could go out and get something to eat like old times when it was just me and you when your mother wasn't in the village because of a mission. You can bring your friends with you too, I've seen so many pictures of them, and heard so much of them from you that I feel that I know them already, so I think it's about time I meet them too. I know that Hinata and Naruto has changed since you left the village, Hinata more then Naruto because the first time I saw her from the first picture you sent me, I couldn't recognize her at all. Naruto, on the other hand, seems to have gone over to more of feminine styles, which seems to suit him more than his old clothes ever did. As for you, your eyes, they remind me of my other before she died in the second war, you've changed so much since I've last saw you, but yet at the same time....you seemed to have not changed much at all some how. I still find it amazing how much you all have learned, whatever they're teaching at Kumo, it seems to be working wonders, way better than what they're teaching in Konoha, that's for sure. Anyways, I can't wait to meet all of you again, and for the first time in some cases, I'm not sure when you'll get this letter, but when you get it, I want you to know that I'll be staying in The Sandy Tea Hotel. It shouldn't be too far from the kazakage's tower, so I'll see you soon._

 

_Yours truly_

 

_Shikaku Nara._

 

Shikamaru had tears in his eyes by the time he got to the end, he had read many letters like this one before. He had three and a half years worth of letters to prove it! But there was just something about this one letter that spoke volumes of the distance that they had shared for all these years, three years felt like an eternity when you really look at it close up.It's not always about the big picture, or how it the picture looks even, it's about the feelings and right now, Shikamaru felt distances the most. He turned on his heels and rushed out of the room, not waiting for the others, not turning around to see if anyone was following him, he just ran out of the room. He still had the letter in his hands as he ran, the words that he just read playing over and over in his mind as he ran down the stairs of the building, he wasn't sure on which floor that his dad's room was on, but he didn't care. From the distance and angel that the letter appeared from, he could seatmate that his dad was no more than two floors blow him, so he ran from his room all the way down to the fourth floor, where he suspected his dad was. When he entered the fourth floor hallway, he looked around, seeing the same hall way that he saw from up stairs, he looked up at each room door, thinking that if he found the door that was theoretically two floors below the room he was just in, then he might find his dad's room. He looked around until he found the door that was supposedly his dad's room door, he stopped in front of it and lifted his hand to knock, his heart pounding in his chest as he watched his hand get closer and closer to the door. His hand was just inches from knocking on the door when someone grasped his wrist, stopping his movements, he turned wide eyes to see who it was.

 

"That's not his room," Said the curly haired blond that caught his wrist.

 

Shikamaru, still high on adrenaline and desperation to see his dad, didn't quite process what was said to him, "wha?"

 

Naruto was panting from running so far so suddenly, he wasn't ready for that, plus his muscles had relaxed since they got they rooms sorted out. He took a deep breath in as he looked at Shika, prompting the young genius to follow his lead, they both let out a breath together. Shika calmed down from his panicked state before turning to the blond completely, behind Naruto, he saw the others standing there looking at him, he took another deep breath and let it out slowly for good measure before nodded to them. "I'm good now, sorry about running out so sudden you guys," he said with a small smile on his face.

 

Gaara walked forward with a small smile on his face, "no worries, your like uh...hm, oh yeah, you were like a lost two year old looking for his daddy," he said after striking a thinking pose.

 

Shika blushed, "I-I was not!" Haku and Hinata started giggling at Shikamaru's blushing face, "I-I said I w-wasn't!"

 

Gaara nodded his head slowly, "sure you weren't," he smirked a little as Shika's blush grew.

 

"Anywaaays," Naruto said as he walked across the hall to the room across from the door that Shika was about to knock on, he point at it. " _This_ is the room that we're looking for," he then proceed to knock on it firmly and waited for the person beyond it to answer it, the others joined him in front of the door to wait.

 

They heard someone moving around behind the door before a muffed,  _"coming"_ was heard. The door opened to reveal a tall man with a tan standing at the door drying his hair, "yes, who-" he looked down at the person that knocked on the door, his eyes widened, "Shika-chan?" He said in a whisper. 

 


	16. First round and stake outs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the long wait, but I'm starting collage soon and I needed to get some stuff done before the first day.

While the chunin exams were getting on their way in Suna, Konoha was dealing with their own problems, mainly, Minato and Kushina. It seems that Minato had finally found out what Kushina had done to Naruto at the end of the video tap that they had been watching not so long ago. It had only been about a day since Minato found out, and he wasn't taking the news so well.

 

"Minato, I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me back then, I wasn't in the right state of mind! I didn't mean it, honest!" Kushina yelled up at her husband's window, while Minato happily ignored her, the red head konoichi frowned, "you can't do this to me! Those are my kids too, I have a right to at least see them, don't I?"

 

Meanwhile, inside the house, Narumi was was watching as her mother yelled in the front yard. Narumi didn't know what was going on, or while her father had suddenlty kicked her mom out of the house and forbade them all from seeing or talking to her. When she asked what her mom did, her father simply said,  _"she crossed a line that can't be uncrossed, ever,"_ to this statement, Narumi was confused. What could her mother ave done to make her sweet and kind father literally throw her out of the house with all of her clothes and other belongings? It had all happened when Narumi was coming home from training with her godfather, Jiraya, or as she likes to call him, pervy sage. She had walked up to the house, very tired and fully intending to take a nice long bath when all of a sudden, a body comes flying out into the yard just a few away from her. To her shock, that body was her mom's, Narumi had looked up to the door to see that her father was standing there, angrier than she had ever seen him in her life. Before she cold think of what just happened, her father started throwing all of her mom's stuff out onto the yard from the second story window, from that point until a few minutes ago, she had witnessed something that she had never seen her parents do before. They argued. Well, actually, they've argued in front of her and her siblings before, but those petty little things were crumbs in the wind compared to the fight that had taken place right then. She heard that sometimes people use....colorful language to express themselves once or twice before in the village, but from where she was standing in the yard, she could attest to witnessing a whole new breed of colorful language. Her mother cursed her father to hell and back, while her father did the same, making it a just as bright and loud as her mother did. In fact, not only was the language bright and new to Narumi, but the information that was being given out was also something to behold. 

 

Apparently, from what Narumi could understand, her mother likes to be the man in more things than just arguments. It seems that, from what Narumi's eleven year old mind can comprehend, her mother liked to use a generous sized....stick to um....use to make her father's....donuts(?) creamy??? While Her father screams, as her mother puts it,  _"screams like a hot slut being raped by a horse for the first time."_ To this statement, Narutmi couldn't stop her innocent mind from picturing how her father being raped by a mean horse while he was doing his work at the tower. It was then at this point that Narumi started crying for them to stop because she didn't want her dad to be raped by an anime that she once got to ride for her seventh birthday, the same day that Naruto had disappeared.Much to both parents horror, they realized to late that their sex live had just scared the mind of their jinturiki daughter. Minato flashed down in front of Narumi, picked her up, then flashed back inside the house before Kushina could even get to their daughter, feeling sad and ashamed, Kushina sat quietly out on the grass. For about five minutes before she started yelling wanting to see her daughter and some other stuff, which brings us up to the present. It took Minato a full five minutes of comforting his daughter before she stopped crying, then he went to go check up the quadruplets who ad woken up from their naps because of all the yelling, but he had been too angry to hear their cry, because of the yelling. So Narutmi was left in the living from, staring out the window, watching her mother yell her head off until she got what she wanted. It was a common thing in the house, but it was rarely used by Kushina herself.

* * *

 

 

_Two hours later_

 

Narutmi had fallen asleep from watching and listening to her mother yell in the front yard. It was getting late and the sun was about to set. Narumi looked out the living room window to see that her mom was still out there, it seems that in the time she was asleep, her mother had took the time to make a fire and set up a tent in front of the house.  _"Is she going camping in the front yard? I wonder why she doesn't just come inside,"_ the was a grumbling nose head from her stomach as she thought, _"hm,_ _I wonder what dad's cooking up for us tonight."_ She got up from the couch she was sleeping on, noticing that a blanket had appeared on her during her sleep, setting the blanket aside, she made her way into the kitchen. She could smell something good coming from within the kitchen and for a split second, she thought that her brother had finally come home, she rushed into the kitchen with that thought in mind and looked around wildly for her twin brother. She was disappointed, however, when she still couldn't find him anywhere in sight.

 

"Honey? Is there something wrong?" Minato asked his daughter when he saw her rush into the kitchen, looking at her face now, he realized what was wrong. "Oh....sorry, I guess the smell of the food reminded you of Naruto again, right?"

 

Narumi nodded sadly, "yeah, it smelled like his famous meatloaf burgers that he used to make sometimes when M.J. was feeling down." Her head sulked as she went up to sit on one of the stools around the island counter, "I just, I just wish that he would come home already, instead of making us all worry about him so much."

 

Minato looked down at the pot he was stirring just before Narumi came into the kitchen, he breath a sigh out of him nose, "well, I'm sure he had his reasons for leaving. I'm not so sure about Hinata and Shikaku's boy, but I know that Naruto had to have a good reason. You know he's not the type to just run off without saying anything," he shook his head as he turned off the stove and checked the oven before walking over to the island counter. He took the seat next to his daughter, looking straight ahead, he said, "I wonder how he's been doing all these years, if he's still alive," he was mostly thinking out loud. He did have faith that his son would no doubt take care of himself and his younger brothers, after all, he has been taking care of them since they were born.  _"Did we really give a four year old so much responsibilities to do back then? Man, when you think about it now, Naruto seemed to be the one that was holding us all together for all that time. He did the dishes, made the food, cleaned the house, he took care of the garden in the backyard, watched the triplets when no one else was around to do it, and he took are of all of us too. I can't remember the last time anyone else in this house had done half as much work as Naruto did while he was here....if I didn't know better, I would have said that he was already an adult in a way, but that's impossible, right? He was still a kid, he would have had at least some friends come over to help him with some of the work, right?"_ He looked over at Narumi, "hay, Narumi, do you know if Naruto had any friends? I mean, other than Shikamaru and his little fox friend, what was his name again?"

 

"Hmm? No, Naruto didn't have any other friends other than pineapple head, why?" Narumi asked bored as she looked at her father.

 

"Sweetheart, it's not nice to call people names," Minato lightly scolded, Narumi shrugged, he sighed, "any ways, do you know why he doesn't have any friends?"

 

"Uhh, n-no, nah-huh," Narumi said looking away from the older blond's piercing blue orbs. 

 

Minato raised an eye brow at that, "oh? Are you sure about that, Narumi?" Narumi nodded, still not looking at her father, "you wouldn't be lying to me now would you, Narumi? You know how I feel about lairs, right?"

 

Narumi paused before nodded again slowly, "I-I'm not lying daddy, honest."

 

"Then why can't you look at me?" Minato asked, leaning more towards his daughter, "you're not hiding anything from me about Naruto, are you?"

 

Narumi gulped, "n-nope!" She quickly hopped off the stool she was on and ran to the door, "well, gotta go! I have this, uh, thing, yeah, this thing to do for the pervy sage and, uhm, I need to go do that thing now. So um, uh, bye!" She ran out the door quickly without looking back, wanting to get away from the kitchen, and her father's question, as soon as possible. But she new it was only a matter of time before her dad found out her secret.

 

Minato sat staring at the swinging door to the kitchen  before getting up from his seat, he walked over to the door to stop it swinging, "I wonder if anyone else is hiding something from me. If it has to do with Naruto and why he ran away, then I defiantly want to know everything that went on before he left." He turned away from the door to check the oven again before turning back on the stove top, "on way or another, I will find out every last secret that this family seems to be hiding from me, good or bad, it will all come out soon." He stirred the post slowly as he glared at it's contents, "whatever it takes,no one's getting away from their crimes."

* * *

 

 

_Meanwhile, with Ryu (Minato and Kushina's second son)_

 

Ryu was staring at the back of his second boyfriend, that's right,  **second** boyfriend. Ryu wasn't one to be tied down to anything, but he was loyal, maybe not to some people (as you have just read), but to most people and his village. He was most loyal to his dad, the hokage, and his team in the ANBU. A few years back before his little brother, Naruto, went missing the first time, he had, sort of, fell in love with a nice guy in his ANBU squad. They had dated for about two or three days before Ryu got board with the man, so they broke up and the guy transferred out of their squad, leaving an opening for a new member. The next guy on their squad last a few months before Ryu decided to sink his claws into the 'new meat'. This guy ended up lasted about two weeks before Ryu dumped him, braking his heart in what some might say, a 'cold' manner, which was how the roamers of how Ryu's heart was made of ice started. After guy number two was out of the picture, another new person came into the group, another guy, which prompted their team leader, dog (they don't use real names to great each other in ANBU) took the chace to have a talk with Ryu. Dog had took the time to inform Ryu that this new guy was actually straight for once, so if Ryu wanted to try his luck with a straight target, he was more than welcomed to try, but dog had his doubts that the red head would. It was a fool's mistake. The new and very _straight_ guy on the team went by the code name: weasel, he was younger than the others and Ryu thought didn't like dating younger guys, it made him feel like a pedophile. So thankfully, weasel was left alone, for about a year, which was a record in in book mind you, it surprised everyone on his team, as well as the rest of the ANBU division. After a year of watching the new guy, Ryu found that he was very smart, he also found out that weasel had a little brother that was Naruto's age, from what he had sen, weasel got along smoothly with his younger sibling than Ryu did with all of his. 

 

It was safe to say that Ryu wasn't a person that got along too well with other kids, despite the fact that he grew up with more than just a few of them himself. Still, Ryu got curious about weasel and tried to get to know him, but weasel only kept him at arms length. this frustrated the Namikaze to no end and he did everything short of stripping naked in front of the younger man to get his attention. Yet weasel was unmoved by the efforts that Ruy was making, it seemed to have pushed the younger boy away. Shortly after that, we went to his family to see if they had any ideas on how to deal with something like this, surprisingly, it was Naruto who had given him the advice he needed to get closer to weasel. With the words 'just be yourself' ringing in his head, Ryu had made another attempt to get to know his younger teammate and it turned out quite well, it seemed that even though weasel was fairly straight for the most part, his was mainly bisexual. With this revelation, Ryu pursued weasel for a while, only to have said boy change his ways completely. Weasel wasn't like the others that Ryu had dated in the past, he was smart enough to know what felt real and what was fake, he was kind enough to help Ryu realize what was wrong with his past relationships. Weasel seemed like the perfect guy for Ryu, they didn't even have sleep together for about six months after getting together officially, by this point, Ryu had been converted into a person that, or he was starting to believe he could start believing, was ready to settle down. Someone that could start a family and live happily together with just one person for the rest of his life. He started to think about the future more and more as long as weasel was by his side. This, until the day of the massacre, when all but one Uchiha had survived Itachi's wrath. It was on this day that Ryu felt some sort of karma fall upon him as he was told he was to hunt down the one guy that he was falling in love with.

 

From that day on, Ryu never had a relationship that lasted more than five to six months. Ever since Itachi, Ryu could never bring his heart to love anyone else, but instead of telling all his future boyfriends this fact, he ends up having multiple boyfriends at once. When he gets tired of one, he moves on to another, then another, and so on. Because of this, he had become the master of breaking up with people, which was why he was looking at his current second boyfriend right now. "Hay, can we talk?" Ryu asked as he walked over to the man sitting on his bed.

 

"Hm? Ah sure, but make it quick, I've gotta get back to HQ to turn in my papers to become a jonin again," said the man who had been getting dressed before just a moment before. "What is it?"

 

"Well, you know how I said that you weren't like the others, and that I might like you better than them?" Ryu asked.

 

The man nodded, "yes, you told me that about two and a half hours ago before we had sex." He raised his eye brow, "what, did something happen to you in the bathroom?" The man's face, even though most of it was covered, took on a look of worry, "you're not pregnant are you?"

 

"Hell no, you think I can raise a kid right now? I'm not ready for any of that shit!" Ryu exclaimed as the other man breath a sigh of relief.

 

"Okay, good, I'm not looking for any of that either," said the man, "so, what did you want to talk about?"

 

"Well, I don't think this is working, so could you like, I don't know, try not to stock me or something outside of work? I don't want people knowing that you and I were a thing," Ryu said coolly.

 

The other man stared at Ryu before shrugging his shoulders, "okay," then he got up and walked to the door, leaving a shocked Ryu in his wake.

 

Ryu wasn't expecting the man to be so cool about him breaking up with him, he had expected something like tears, questioning and, most common, anger. However, he didn't get any of that with this guy, "wait, what?" He asked dumbly, "you're not going to ask why or whatever, you're just going to leave just like that? like none of this ever happened?"

 

The other man paused in his walked to the door, he turned his single eye onto Ryu, "was I supposed to get attached to you at some point during our six month bout in the sheets?" He asked turning around fulling to look at Ryu, "did you expect me to fall in love with you or something like all the others did before you broke my heart too?"

 

"Well, no, bu-"

 

"Then what's the problem? We're not in love with each other, or at least, I wasn't in love with you. I knew what this was when I entered this relationship long before we started having sex almost daily."

 

"But, th-"

 

"No, I knew this was coming and so did you, however, I didn't think that I would be the would be the one that would have lasted the full six months. I knew that when this month came, you would want to end things, just like in all your other so-called relationships. But one thing that you didn't count on was the fact that you would get pregnant and then want to get rid of me before you start catching feeling for me, like you did with Itachi before he left. Oh don't give me that look, I know you had an abortion done last month, but what you didn't know as that I paid off you doctor to falsify your papers when he read your results. The fact of the matter is, you were starting to fall for me because I reminded you of Itachi somehow," the man turned away from the shocked red head, "you know that once your boy goes past a month, you can no long get an abortion. Minato-sensei told me how your bloodline worked back when I was still on his team, so I know how it goes," he started walking out of Ryu's apartment, "think of this as revenge from all the guys you've broken with this little game of yours. Have fun with the kid," he paused at the front door, "maybe know you'll learn to grow up a little," then he opened the door and left.

 

Ryu watched the door for a while before falling to his knees and started crying, after about an hour of crying, he wiped his eyes of the tears he shed.  _"Right, there's no time to start crying, I've gotta go tell dad about what I found out about Naruto,"_ he thought as he started to get up,  _"_ _but first, I need to clean up."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	17. Secrets out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BOOM! I'm back! I just crashed landed back in to this story like a train, and man does it feel good to be back! Anyways, updates, it's slow coming, but it will be done! I'm trying to get all of my collage stuff done during the week so that my weekends are free to update stories for you all. I hope you guys are ready for some reading because I'[m spending a good three days getting back to updating my stories. It has been a little minute since I last updated, but I will get back on track, or try to anyways. so without further a due, here's the thing you've been waiting for.

Walking up to his family home, Ryu found the air around him suddenly become thick with hate and anger. He looked around the front yard to see where it was coming from, be could sense that the source was coming from the house. Guessing that his parents were fighting again, he moved closer to the door. He knocked on the door once and waited for a few moments for someone to open the door, seeing that no one was coming,he knocked again, this time a bit louder. He sighed and walked around to the side of the house that his room was on, using his many years of training, Ryu climbed the side of the walls and silently snuck into his room like he had been doing for years now whenever he didn't want to stick around his family at night. He walked out of his room and down the hallway to where the source of the killing intent, he found that it was his parent's room, "I wonder what's going on?" He shrugged and continued on to the room that his parents slept in, he was going to knock on the door, but the sound of someone crying stopped him, "huh? Is that-is that dad's voice??" He was shocked, alarmed even, never in his life had he ever heard his dad cry before, he never saw him shed a tear before either. So why now? Jumping to conclusions, Ryu rushed into the room, "dad! Dad I'm here, what's wrong?" He said as he ran over to the blond who was a spitting image of his older and younger brother. He looked upon his father's crying face with worry when the older blond only answered him with more sobs, "dad?" He started again, cautiously taking a step closer to his father's crying form on the bed, he brought up the one thing that he knew would get an answer  this time, "Is this about mom?" He asked.

 

Minato's head snapped up quickly to look up at the person who dared to mention that demon's name, he scowled at the mare mention of that woman's name. He retracted his scowl when he noticed his second oldest son in front of him. "Ryu? What are you doing in here?" Minato asked as he dried his tears.

 

Ryu shrugged as he walked over to the bed to take a seat next to his father, "donno, I guess I wanted to talk to you and mom. You know, see how things are going since the quadruplets started walking and what not," Ryu rubbed the back of his neck. "I know you and her have been having some trouble recently, but I wasn't sure of how much until now," he looked at the floor, "are you guys getting divorced?"

 

Minato looked at his son with sad eyes, "I..." he started but stopped, where they getting a divorced? After what he found out about his son that day, after finding out what she did to one of his babies. Was that even a question? Minato sighed, "maybe, I don't know about that right now, I guess I'm...still in shock is all."

 

Ryu looked up at his father, "shock? Shock of what, dad?"

 

Minato looked at Ryu for a few moments, should he tell him? It is is younger brother after all, he would want to know what happened, right? Minato took in a deep breath before starting to speak again, "Ryu, I don't know how you're going to take this, but....your mother did something. She did something bad to your brother, Naruto, it happened a long time ago and....and I don't know why or how she did it, but....uhm. I-I guess I just wanted to let you know now before you find out some other way from someone else later."

 

Ryu was confused, his mother did something to his little brother, Naruto? What was it? When was it? Was it the reason why he ran away with the other two all those year ago? "Dad?" He started, he watched as Minato looked at him for a moment before turning his face to the wall next to the bed, before he looked away, Ryu saw deep sorrow in his father's eyes. The type of sorrow that buries itself deep within the center of your inner being and sits there, rotting, until you cant take it anymore. It eats away at you, trying to make it's way out, to see the light once more, but you know that if you let it out, it will swallow you up whole. Bury you deep within itself and sufficient you until you give into its will. That feeling was something dangerous to have, it was the cause of suicides every where.....so why did his dad have that look? "Dad?" Ryu tried again, Minato didn't answer, "dad? C'mon, talk to me, please?"

 

Minato clenched his hands into fist as his tears returned to his eyes full force, "I'm sorry," he said in a small, whispered voice.

 

It was so quite that Ryu also didn't hear it, but he still heard it, "sorry for what, dad, did you do something wrong?"

 

Minato nodded, "yes," he whispered again as he tired to rid himself of his tears.

 

Ryu put a hand on his shoulder, "what happened dad? You can tell me, can't you?" He placed a hand on Minato's shoulder, making side man jump a bit but relax in soon after, "I won't tell anyone what happened if you don't want me to."

 

Minato shook his head, "no, it's not that, I can't..." he wiped some more of his tears away, but they just kept coming.

 

"Can't what? Can't tell me what she did to Naruto?"

 

"Yes"

 

"Why not?" Ryu was starting to get really worried about what it was that his mom had done to his little brother. It must have been really bad since his father can't even speak of it.

 

"She...she...she," Minato swallowed the lump in his throat.

 

Ryu was getting anxious now, he didn't like beating around the bush for a reason, wasting so much time trying to get out what you want to say. Who had time for all that fuss anyways, getting up off the bed, he stood up in front of his father, placed his hands on both of his dad's shoulder's and looked him right in the eyes. "Dad, I'm a big boy now, I can take whatever bad news you have to give to me. Remember, I'm in ANBU now, I've seen somethings, done stuff, and I know more than I did when I was six, so come on...spit it out already."

 

Minato looked up into Ryu's deep blue eyes that matched his own, "have you seen a mother kill her own son for drugs?" Ryu froze at that comment, the coldness of the tone sent shivers up and down his spine, "have you seen any mother sell her son's dead body off to some shady dealer drugs and then did something to bring him back to life?.....Well, have you, son?"

 

Ryu looked into Minato's tear stained face, he was looking for the lie, any small hint that he was lying. Something told him that this was the truth, something told him that he knew what his father was talking about, but something else inside of him told him that he wasn't allowed to know about it. He wanted to know why that was, but again, something inside of him told him that he wasn't allowed to know, didn't want to know. "Wha-what?" Ryu answered, "y-yo-you're joking, right? Right dad?"

 

Minato slowly rose from his spot on the bed, "she doesn't want us to know, never wanted us to find out what happened that day. The truth behind it all, the reason for the eye. She never wanted us to know the reason why the eye is green, why it's like that, why him, why them? Why them! Why! WHY! WHY!" He shouted.

 

Ryu was getting scared now, "dad, what are you talking about? What doesn't who want us to know?"

 

Minato sat back down on the bed with his head in his hands, "she doesn't want us to know."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked what I brought to the table, it may not be my best work since I'm all rusty from not updating in a while, but I tired my best! Anyways, until the next time, ja ne :)
> 
> P.S. sorry for the short ch I've been up doing school work all day and I'm running low on inspiration. the next ch will be long again, promise.


	18. The truth of past Naruto

_Meanwhile, in Suna_

 

 

Naruto, Haku, Shikamaru, Hinata, and Gaara were all sitting around a large table with Shikaku, E, Kurama, Raza, and Konkuro and Tamari. They had just arrived at a local restaurant that was recommended by Raza while he was talking with E and Kurama. When they arrived at the restaurant, the three waiting adults and the two teens were taken aback when they saw a leaf jonin walking up to them along side the children that they had been waiting for. E and Raza were a little on edge of Shikaku's presents there, but for different reasons. E was worried because since Shikaku was apart of the leaf still, he worried that he would either find a way to take Naruto and the others back to the village that they left behind. Or would tell the Hokage where and who they were now living with. Thankfully, Shikaku assured E that he would never do such a thing to his son and his friends if they didn't wish that to happen, he actually wanted them to stay with E in Kumo, because he could see that they were happy their. As for Raza, he was worried because of his future plans for the leaf village, he was hoping that he didn't have to change anything, the plan was set to take place at the next chunin exams. The following chunin exams were gong to be held in konoha next year, so it was the perfect time to get his plan into motion. However, if the leaf found out about his plans ahead of schedule, everything would be ruined. If Shikaku was here on official leaf business, there was a slight chance that he could also find out about his plans. He had to keep on his toes during dinner.

 

Luckily or Raza, Shikaku wasn't paying much attention to him and his slight ques of suspicion Well, he did notice them, he just field them away for later use. While he field those thoughts away for now, he listened to Shikamaru and the others talk about random things that they wanted him to know about their lives since they left the village, they made sure not to reveal anything too sensitive, they were in the presents of potential enemies after all. All through out the dinner, the Naruto and Shikamaru talked to Shikaku about passed battles, how they played out, what could have been done and so on. While Hinata and Haku talked to Kankuro and Tamari, they were mostly testing the information gathering skills that Kurama had taught them a month after moving to Kumo. Their skills turned out to be very well taught because Temari and Konkuro seemed to have told them both their lives story without knowing it. Hinata and Haku mentally smirked at how well things were going so far. The other adults talked among themselves about running their own villages and training the next generation, everyone seemed to be having a good time, everyone but Gaara. When Naruto noticed this, he turned to the young red head, "what's wrong panda?" Naruto asked in a sweet voice, they were all wearing their mask again, the same ones from before.

 

Gaara lifted his masked face, a frown on his face that matched his tanuki mask, but it went unseen by the outer world. "I don't like being here," Gaara whispered back to Naruto's kitsune mask. 

 

Naruto threw a quick glance around the table, everyone was still talking like normal. he turned back to Gaara. "It's them, isn't it?" He asked, Gaara nodded slightly, Naruto put a hand on Gaara's shoulder, "don't let it slip, okay? You'll be fine as long as you act natural, got it?" Gaara nodded again and started to somewhat relax.

 

A little after dinner, once everyone was done eating, they were waiting for the check to arrive when a comment from Temari stopped most of the hearts at the table. "Sorry, but I just can't help but think about my little brother every time I see you, it's almost as if the two of your were the same person," she said as she looked straight at Gaara.

 

This comment put Gaara on edge because Kankuro and Raza gave him a thoughtful look. "You know, now that I think about it, you two do seem to have a few things in common," stated Konkuro looking hard at Gaara. 

 

"Hm? Like what, what do you mean?" Shikaku couldn't help but ask, since he didn't know much about how Gaara came to be with the group. He knew that Gaara was from Suna and that he had the Ichibi inside of him, like how Naruto had the Kyuubi inside of him, but they didn't get into too much detail after that. 

 

"Well, before our brother, Gaara, disappeared a few years ago, I remember that his favorite colors where red and gold." Temari indicated to Gaara's clothing, "but all he ever wore was brown and other dark colors."

 

"Oh yeah, I think I remember something like that too," Konkuro chipped in, he turned back to Gaara without knowing that it was the same person that he was talking about. "He also liked wearing his hair the same way too, without that mask, you two could probably be twins or something." He shivered a little, "but you might be the nicer one."

 

"What is that supposed to mean?" Gaara demanded, he didn't like the way that his so-called brother was talking about him, hinting that he was nothing but a bothersome monster before he left.

 

"Oh no, no, I didn't mean anything by it, I just meant that you would be easier to get along with is all. I'm not saying that you're bad."

 

Temari shook her head, "I think what my baka brother is trying to say is that, you just remind us a little of him. He was always so quite, he barely talked to anyone, no friends, all that."

 

"You don't think I have friends?" Gaara deadpanned.

 

"No, no, it's not-that's not what-uhm, I'm sorry let's start over," Temari said.

 

"Why? Is this a game to you? There are no 'start over' buttons in life," Gaara said in a monotone voice that Naruto and the other's never heard him use before.

 

"No, it's j-" Konkuro started but Raza cut him off.

 

"That's enough, Konkuro, you'll only dig yourself into a deeper grave if you go on like this." The kazakage stated coldly as glanced from his oldest son to his only  daughter, the mentioned to looked down in shame. Raza then turned his attention back to the red head in the tanuki mask, "my apologies, I hope that they did not offend you too much with their thoughtlessness." Raza stood up from his seat and bowed before everyone, he motioned for Temari and Konkuro to do the same, which they did, apologizing the same as their father. "I hope that you can forgive us for our actions. 

 

E, Shikaku, and Kurama all had the same thoughts,  _"he must want something big if he's going to suck up so much."_

 

Naruto watched Gaara closely, he had a feeling that things were going to take a turn for the worse soon. He just didn't now how wright he was.


	19. Secrets out pt. 2

**Later that same night**

 

Everyone left the restaurant in silence that night, not wanting to talk about what had just happened. A simple misunderstanding turned out to be not so simple after all, leading to a small fight to break out between Gaara and his former siblings. However, E and Raza was able to keep both sides of from killing each other, while Shikamaru, Naruto, and Hinata managed to talk Gaara out of doing anything that would blow their cover. Haku, also trying to keep the peace, noted that the kazakage didn't take his eyes off of Gaara since they got to the restaurant. Haku took note of Raza's interest in Gaara as soon as they entered the village. He wasn't sure if the others had noticed it yet, but since this confrontation occurred, it might be time to let them know. As they were all leaving the restaurant, he noticed something else out of the ordinary. It seemed that Temari and Konkuro noticed something about Gaara, he wasn't sure what they knew, but he knows that it couldn't be good for them. Back at the hotel, Haku called everyone into one of the hotel rooms that they were using to talk.

 

"Haku? What's up?" Hinata asked as they all sat around the room.

 

Haku had a thoughtful look on his face as he spoke, "they know something," was his simple answer.

 

No one in the room, save for Shikaku, had to ask what he meant by that, they knew what he meant. "What do you think they know?" Naruto asked from his spot next to Gaara, "I mean, it must be something big, and it has to involve Gaara."

 

"What makes you say that, Naruto?" Shikaku asked.

 

"Isn't it obvious? They must have gotten some news about Gaara from somewhere and want to confirm what they know." Naruto stated, "I noticed it when we entered the village and met up with Bake again, he must have seen Gaara that one time before half of his face was burnt off. I think that when he got back to the village back then, he would have told the kazakage, and then the kazakage would most likely have tried to put two and two together. If that's the case," he took in a deep breath and held up his fox mask, "then I'm not sure tat these mask that we had behind will cover us any more. If word got out tat Gaara's been in kumo all this time, then how long until people from our own villages start asking questions? How long until our so-called parent's start to come looking for us just to drag us back home to the same thing that we ran away from?" He looked up at the rest of the people in the room, "we're walking on thin ice here guys."

 

Hinata nodded, "right, I don't think that we can stay very long here. Like Naru-chan said, we're cutting it pretty close," she sighed, she looked a little tired when he did so. Her skin looked a little pale, rather than it's usual light tan she got from the ritual a few years back, "and then there's the case of a hunter ninja following us since we left the boarder of lightening country. 

 

"What! You noticed them too? I thought I was just seeing things out of the corner of my eyes again," Shikamaru blurted out. Realizing what he just said, and who was in the room, he quickly covered his mouth.

 

This caught both Shikaku's and E's attention, Kurama had his doubts about Shikamaru, but his comment confirmed it. "What do you mean by, 'again'? Was Kurama's calm answer, Shikamaru looked away from his new mother-figure's eyes, refusing to answer the question. Kurama narrowed his eyes, "we'll talk about this later," Shika knew that there was no escaping this and just nodded with his head down. Turning back to everyone else, he said, "Hina-chan? You look tired, you haven't been over using Peek-a-Boo have you? You know you still need to build up tolerance for it to use it for longer than twenty-four hours dear."

 

Hinata nodded, "yes mama, I know, but still, I couldn't take my eyes off of them. Not even for a second," she insisted, and..." she trailed off to take out a the mentioned camera from her bag, "we caught something a few days ago."

 

"You caught something? On Peek-a-Boo?" Gaara asked, "you mean the new system I installed really worked?"

 

Hinata nodded, "yep," she said as she moved closer to the center of the room. A few days before everyone had left kumo to come to suna, Gaara and Hinata were working on a way for them to capture pictures on and videos on Peek-a-Boo. Pictures and videos that would show up clearly while using the night vision and inferred settings of the camera, however, since they had only just come up with it, the system was imperfect. To take a picture, the user had to have a clear shot of the thing or person(s) that they were trying to take a picture of. To do this, and not get caught, the user, if they had the byakugan, they could just channel chakra into their eyes and then the camera. The camera, since it wasn't directly facing the target, would need twice as much chakra than normal before it could take the picture, for a video, it would be about three or four times as much chakra. Since the video is longer than just a split second picture, the user would need either large chakra stores and one soldier pill, or lots of stamina, three solder pills, and half a day's rest to take a video longer than three to four minutes. This process of chakra draining is dangerous because, like the shadow clone jutus, it draws upon a lot of chakra and could kill someone with less than jonin chakra levels. With that in mind, even though Hinata and the other's did get a chakra boost from Kurama during the ritual, using the video setting on Pee-a-Boo takes a little more than half of that for a three minute video. 

 

"How long have you had this setting on, Hina-chan?" Haku asked worriedly, he stepped closer to her when he noticed a sway in her step.

 

"I'm fine, I've had it on and off since we left the boarder," Hinata held out the device for all to see.

 

Shikaku took a look at the camera, "wow, it's just as Shikamaru described it," he said.

 

"Here, this is the video that I was able to get on the way over," she tapped a button on the back of the camera and pointed the lens upward. Without warning, a hologram shot up from the lens, widening itself, it showed three figures, one was tall with a dog mask, the other two were medium to average height. The last one was of average height, one wore a snake mask, he other wore a bear mask, all three had on the leaf's ANBU uniform. "They're from Konoha, I can tell from their clothing because I had seen some of the Hyuuga's from the main branch wearing them before I left that day."

 

"Hmm, so this means that Minato must have had a lead or something on you eyes before he even sent me. Huh..." Shikaku looked at the holographic images moving ever so silently across the terrain, hopping from trees and blending in with the shadows. The perfect depiction of what a true ninja was meant to be in the field, when suddenly, Shikaku pointed to something in the corner of the playing image. There, just to the upper corners of the video, there was another person following the hunter ninja from konoha, "we've got extra company, other than just those three." 

 

He drew everyone's eye to the extra image on the screen, he was tall with shaggy black hair, a jonin vest, a slanted head band that they couldn't make out which symbol was on it, and the lower half of his face was wrapped in bandages. "Who even is that? Who's village is he from?" Naruto asked, staring contently at the figure that followed the konoha ANBU.

 

"His clothes," Haku started, squinting his eyes as if that would make the image better.

 

"Do you know this person, Haku?" E asked.

 

Haku shook his head, "no papa, I don't, not really. But...but his clothes," he pointed to the person when they came more into view, "there, I've seen those bandages before."

 

"You sure?" Gaara asked.

 

Haku looked at the video a moment longer before nodding, "yeah, it's from the mist. I've seen it plenty of times to know it by now-and that face."

 

"What about it?" Naruto asked, "do you know it?"

 

"No, I don't know it, but I have seen it before." Haku looked around the room, "before I left my village, there was a story I had heard long ago, maybe when I was four or five. It scared me back then, still gives me the chills now sometimes."

 

"What was the story?" Hinata asked.

 

"It was of a boy who had passed the village's graduation exam, back then, the only way to become a ninja in that village, you had to kill all of your classmates. Mostly, there wouldn't be a lot of people who could do the exam, but there was one. This one boy took the exam and passed it with flying colors." Haku shivered, "his name was Zabuza Momochi," everyone in the room, mostly the kids, gasped at the mention of the name.

 

"But, what could the demon of the mist want with us?" Naruto asked slightly panicked.

 

"I don't know what he could want, but I think I know what he would want," Kurama stated as he walked over to Hinata. He took the camera and turned it off, "we've got some heavy hitters coming at us and hard, who don't know when they'll strike. Where they'll make their first move, what they'll do to get it, or even what their initial order was, but-" he turned hard eyes onto the room, "either way, whether we like it or not, we've got a fight on our hands. A fight that could mean life or death, depending on how thing play out, so tomorrow, I say we train as much as we can, whenever we can."

 

"I agree," E spoke up fr the first time since they entered the room, "I may have been the rikage, but even I know my limits. Tomorrow, just like Kurama said, we'll be training for the unexpected, try to get some rest tonight and be ready for the day ahead. Especially you, Hinata, Gaara, you need the rest the most. Understood?"

 

"Hai!" Said Naruto and the others, saluting on reflex.

 

"Good," turning to Shikaku, "you are more than welcome join us, if you like. I would hate to shorten your reunion with your son during your stay here."

 

Shikaku smiled a small smile, "well, don't mind if I do, who knows, maybe I could teach them a thing or two myself."

 

Kurama chuckled, "sorry, but I think they may be the ones teaching you a thing or two tomorrow."

 

Shikaku was curious on what the red headed fox demon meant by that, but he guessed that he would have to wait and see. Until then, they all wished each other good night and went their own ways. Shikaku went down to his own room, four floors below the one he was just on, and made his way to his own room. When he got there, he was about two doors down from his own, when he felt someone else's chakra up ahead, it was a familiar one, Kakashi's. It was in this moment that Shikaku realized how much time he had spent with his son and the others, hoping that the Hatake would be asleep by now, he cautiously opened the door. He looked around the dark room, trying to see if his mission busy was in his bed, however, he didn't have time to check when the door shut behind him. "Hello Shikaku, is there something that you would like to tell us?"

 

TBC.....


	20. Training and Attacking

"Is there something that you would like to tell us? Shikaku?" Said man turned around at the mention of his name, he found a tall male wearing the usual ANBU uniform, his gravity defying hair unkept and his mask hid his facial features well. Kakashi Hatake, last of the Hatake clan, stood before the leader of the Nara clan, arms folded, still as a statue as he leaned on the far wall. Shikaku stayed quite for a while as he took in everything about the room, and those he sensed in it, he saw Kaskhi in front of him, but _felt_  others hiding in the shadow. Waiting, ready to move on a moments notice, silent as the night and all the more frightening in a way. "Well? I'm waiting, Shikaku? Or do you always stall for time when asked a direct question?"

 

"Hmm, I might be more inclined to talk if we were alone," Shikaku said in his usual board drool.

 

Kakashi raised an eye brow, "we are a-"

 

"C'mon Kakashi, you find that I was born yesterday or what?" Shikaku cut in, "I'm not saying a word until you get rid of the extra company in the room."

 

"Hm, seems reasonable enough," Kakashi sighed, "fine, I'll get rid of mine, if you do the same."

 

For a moment, Shikaku was confused by what he meant by that, but then he felt someone behind him, he turned around to see no one was there. The only thing behind him was a painting of some sunflowers, wait, sunflowers? Walking over to the painting, Shikaku inspected it for a few seconds, every line, detail, memorizing it and filing it away for later. Then he noticed it, there was some chakra leaking from the painting, he touched the painting with the tips of his finger and heard a small giggling, coming from the painted object, "alright, the gigs up, you can come out now." SHikaku took a step back from the painting to see who would appear from it, he was half expecting his son to come from the smoke cloud that surrounded the person when the jutus was dispelled, he also half expected to see Naruto, obviously be cause the painting was of sunflowers. He also, almost, expected to see Hinata or maybe even Haku, but not Gaara, that would be a stretch, even for him. However, with all those that he expected to pop out of the smoke, he did not expect to see two small little foxes standing in place of the smoke cloud, he blinked his eyes once, twice, three times for good measure. "Wha- uh what's this?" He whispered to himself as he got down to eye level with the foxes, "uhm, you two wouldn't happen to be Kubo and Jin, would you?"

 

The two foxes before him grinned, well the golden one did, the redish one just smirked ever so slightly. "You got us pops, we're the leaders of the Foxy Tricksters from Trickster Ally, maybe you've heard of us," said the gold fox with a bubbly attitude.

 

Shikaku smiled a small smile, "ah, yes, I have heard of you two," he started. Kakashi cleared his throat from his spot on the opposite wall, Shikaku looked back at him and waved him off before turning back to the two foxes. "So, what can I do for you two while I still have the time?"

 

The redish fox tilted his head a little, "are you about to go somewhere, Mr.Nara?"

 

"Oh, well you never know, it seems that someone's got a bone to pick with me to night, so who knows. Now, is there something that you two need, a message maybe?" Shikaku asked as he petted the foxes head.

 

Kubo purred happily but then jumped up in surprise, "oh yeah, there was something that we were supposed to tell you."

 

"Really, what could that be?" Shikaku asked.

 

"Oh, well um, hm, I forgot most of it, but it was from our masters, all of them," Kubo stated.

 

Shikaku looked to Jin for more information, Jin sighed, "what he's trying to say is that our masters have sent the two of us to give you a message." Jin's eyes turned towards the masked figure behind Shikaku before continuing, "he said that the doves will lead the way, and the Kitsune clan will be waiting at the southern gates of dreams."

 

Shikaku nodded, "thank you, please tell them that I have the ravens package and will find the rabbit on the mountain soon."

 

Kubo and Jin both nodded in response to the message that they were given, they soon puffed away into smoke as if they were never there to begin with. They could have been good ninja hounds, if they weren't foxes. Then again, foxes are the best ninjas there are. "Now then, Kakashi," Shikaku stated as he stood back up straight, he paused, waiting as the silver haired ANBU signaled something with his hands before he went on, "what did you want to talk about?"

* * *

**Konoha-** _sametime_

 

Ryu was walking up and down the hallway trying to think about what his father meant. What had his mother been keeping them? What did she do when he was just a child? How did it involve Naruto? The questions just kept piling on, the more that he thought about it, the more that he wondered. What was it that he needed to know about her? Was it good, bad, did it even concern him? The questions, they went on and on, when you thought you answered on, there was always another one right next to it, but why? Why all the secrets? If his parents were all about family and letting each other know everything, why didn't they know this big thing that happened so many years ago? Was it because they were just kids at the time and wouldn't have understood what was happening at the time? What was the deal with that? And if that was so, when Naruto left with HInata and that Nara kid he was always hanging out with, wouldn't that have been the right time to clue them all in on what had happened all those years ago? Maybe it would give us a clue on why Naruto ran away with those two in the first place.

 

While Ryu was trying to figure out the meaning to his mother's secrecy, just down the hall, Minato was sitting alone in his bed room. He was sitting on the bed that he used to share with the woman that he thought he loved, but now he couldn't even sleep in it anymore. It felt like a bunch of lies built up with a soft covering so no one would question it. He signed, wondering where everything had went wrong. Suddenly, without warning, a rock crashed though his window, the sound was so loud and sudden that he had no doubt in his mind that Ryu and the others in the house had heard it too. Proving his suspicion to be true, Ryu, along with Shion, Narumi, M.J., the quadruplets ad their nanny, came rushing in. "I heard something, is everything okay daddy?" Narumi asked as she ran up to her father, looking around the room for the intruder who had made the noise that caused everyone to drop what they were doing. 

 

Minato looked around the room, seeing everyone there made his heart feel ten times lighter. A small smile graced his lips, "don't worry every one, the thing that made the noise was just this rock, see?" He said as he walked up to the thrown object that was now surrounded by bits of cglass, he picked it up carefully and turned it over. Thankful that there wasn't a paper bomb attached to it, but a note, he detached the note from the rock and read it:

 

_Dear Minato,_

 

_I am sorry that I have kept this from you for so long._

_This was a secret that I had to hide from you all in fear that you would hate me for it._

_However, that wasn't the case, as you would find out, that would be the least of our worries._

_Please meet me at the park in the center of the village in ten minutes._

_I promise that I will explain everything to you about that day._

_Nothing will be left out, I swear on my name as a Uzumaki._

 

_Yours truly._

_Kushina Uzumaki ~~Namikaze.~~_

 

Minato read the letter out loud for everyone to hear, he looked up at them for their reactions. Ryu and M.J. were looking at the note as if their very gaze alone would set ablaze, while everyone else had varying looks on their faces. The quadruplets where confused and curious on what was going on, Narumi looked lost, and the nanny seemed to not care so much for Kushina's note. It was somewhat well known that this nanny, a young girl that retired from shinobi life because of a mission incident, had the biggest crush on Minato Namikaze known to man. However, she did her work well and didn't let the younger Namikaze children fool her with one, or any, of their little tricks.

 

"So, are you going to meet, dad?" M.J. asked.

 

TBC......


	21. Found

Naruto looked up from his book just in time to see Kubo and Jin appear out thin air, he put down said book to give the two foxes his full attention. "What's the word?" He asked as they walked up to his bed, Kubo hopped up into his lap and he petted him.

 

"He said that he'll be there when things go south," Jin said since Kubo was too busy getting petted to answer his own master.

 

"Ohio," came a sleepy voice from besides Naruto, they all turned to see Soul, Hinata's partner, walking up to the bed that they were using.

 

"Oh, hay Soul, did you just wake up?" Jin asked as he watched the little ball of white fur hop onto the bed next to Naruto.

 

"No, I've been awhile, I just really like that word," Soul said with a big yawn at the end. He walked around in a circle next to Naruto a few times before settling down with a soft sigh and closing his eyes.

 

Kubo, filled with energy, hopped off of Naruto's lab to the floor, "where are you going?" Naruto asked.

 

Kubo walked to the door before turning around, "I'm going to get the rest of thee gang. I want to tell everyone everything before going to sleep tonight so we can figure out a plan for the morning."

 

"What plan?" Soul asked sleepily from Naruto's side, he lifted his head up to the blond next to him, "did we get something new?"

 

Naruto placed his hand top of Soul's small, furry head, he smiled brightly, "yep, we've got a ton of new stuff to talk about. But don't worry, I'll wake you up when everyone gets her so that you can sleep, I know that you've been up for a long time with Hinata keeping watching. Go ahead, to a rest, you must be tired," Soul nodded his head at the blond and laid his head back down, soon he was fast asleep. He turned back to Kubo, "tell Shika first, he's gonna want to know about this," the golden fox nodded his head and left in a poof of smoke. Once Kubo was gone, Naruto put on a serious face as he turned his eyes on the red fox, "tell me everything."

 

_30 mins later_

 

A few minutes later, Shikamaru rushed into the room with a panicked look on his face, followed closely by Hinata. "Naruto, is it true?" He asked the blond, who was still sitting on his bed, "did they-did they find us already?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, okay, before you get mad at me, I just want to say that I'm sorry that I couldn't write more for this chapter. However, this is mostly just a teaser for the next chapter, so stay tune until then. Thanks for ready, until next time, ja ne.


	22. Found and Lost

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I literally can't focus on anything right now because the evil overlord, Math, keeps screwing me over xc. I could cry the next time I see another equation with a letter in it, or a fraction, why do they even put letters in math anyways?!

Naruto looked at Shikamaru seriously as everyone else entered the room. In total there was Naruto, Shikamaru, Hinata, Gaara, Haku, and their respective kitsune partners, the blond on the bed took in a deep breath, "yes," he said as he slowly got to his feet. It seems that the spy we placed in the villages that we left are starting to catch on to our scent. I have no doubt that they will be onto us before the first part of the chunin exams are over with."

 

"If that's the case, then we need to plan our escape before they can find us," Haku said stepping forward. His partner, Ren, agreeing with him all the while, as well as some of the others in the room.

 

"I agree," said Hinata, "we shouldn't give them a chance to catch us if we don't want to."

 

"Yeah, we are the "Big Five" after all," Shikamaru boasted, "I'm not going to let all my hard work go to wast just because our old parents desired us back now that we've made a name for ourselves."

 

"What about you dad? Don't you want to go back with him?" Gaara asked in a small voice that it was barely heard, but Shikamaru heard it and frowned.

 

"Well....yeah, I would like to be with my dad again, but-but that doesn't mean that I want to go back to the place that I ran away from. I mean c'mon, I ran away from there for a reason. why would I go back now?" Shikamaru stated trying to appear mad, but in reality, he was scared of going back to konoha, even for just a day. He still has nightmares of what his so-called mother did to him while he was there, it came to the point where he didn't sleep more than just a few hours a night, most nights he would be lucky to even get one hour of sleep. His dreams haunt him at night, maybe more than Naruto's did when he was having nightmares of his own, back when he could remember them at least. At night, sometimes they would wake up to find that the other was already awake, and then they would spend the night doing whatever they could to forget. But since Naruto got his memories erased, Shikamaru has been spending those times alone, except for the occasional company from Jin, he's been feeling kind of lonely a night. He sighed, "I miss the way things used to be, when we could run around like civilians, not a care in the world." 

 

The others looked at Shikamaru, it looked like he had gotten lost in thought again. His words striking a cord with all of them, "when did we become so big?" Naruto asked himself.

 

The others looked at him, "what makes you say that, Naru-chan?" Gaara asked the blond.

 

Naruto shrugged, "I mean, its grate being a ninja, but....who are we doing this for? ourselves?"

 

"Aren't going doing this to protect ourselves from those that want to hurt us? To take us away and cut us up, just so that someone else can have our power or something. Isn't that why we do this?" Hinata asked, "to protect ourselves?"

 

"And the ones we love?" Haku asked, "if it wan't for papa and mama, we wouldn't be where we are now, right?"

 

Naruto looked at Haku for a long time, "we are grateful to them, yes, and we are happy in our lives now, more than when we were in our villages. However, are we trully happy living this way?" 

 

"What do you mean?" Gaara asked, "I thought that you were happy doing what we do now? Being ourselves and stuff, isn't that why we ran?"

 

Naruto shook his head, "I don't even remember why I ran, but every time I hear the name of that village, my heart gets heavy and my skin craws. I don't want to go back to something that I don't even remember, and I know you guys know what it is I ran from, but I don't don't." He looked to the ground, admiring his perfectly painted toes on display in his matching sandals, "it's like not knowing is the worst part of this, because it makes me even more scared of what I could know."

 

Gaara hesitated in his reply, he couldn't find away to comfort his blond crush, but he knew that he had to. Taking a step towards the whiskered cheek blond, he said, " _walk the earth, swim the sea, dance with the wind, run with fire, and strike with lightening. But whatever you do, don't lose home for freedom, because that's even harder to get when it's gone._ Do you remember when Hidi told us that when she was training us?"

 

Naruto looked at Gaara for a moment, "yeah, it was before we started training in the Dashing Windmill style."

 

"She said that we must remember these words because it may save our lives one day, but I don't see how, other than being a cool mantra or something." Haku stated as he sat down in an empty chair by the bed, "what does that saying have to do with us now?"

 

Gaara turned to the gray silvery haired boy in the chair, he stared into his amber eyes, searching. "I think it's time we pay a visit to Trickster Alley again," he said as he turned away from the Haku and started for the door.

 

"What? Why? What would we need from there right now?" Haku asked.

 

"Help," Gaara opened the door and walked out.

 

The others left in the room looked at the left open door for a few seconds before following the red head out into the hallway, Hinata took a moment too pick up her partner Soul before following the others. "Panda-chan, what help do we need? You mean with the escape plan?" Shikamaru asked with Jin hanging on his right shoulder.

 

"No, not escaping, we need help with ourselves," Gaara stated in monotone voice.

 

"Wha-is there something wrong with us?" Shikamaru asked, "because I feel fine."

 

Gaara paused in his step to turn back to Shikamaru, he looked over the ex-Nara for a second, "you're seeing things again. You also haven't been sleeping at night," he turned around fully to face him, the others looked between them, wondering what Gaara meant.

 

Shikamaru felt as if he was caught in the act, "no way, I'm fine, I haven't been seeing anything again, and I sleep fine enough," he lied.

 

Gaara pouted, "there's no need to lie, it's only us here, we can help you."

 

"I don't know what you're talking ab-gaah" Shikamaru was interrupted when Jin hopped on top of his head and walked him in the side of his face with his fluffy tail. "What was that for, Jin?"

 

"That was for lying, you baka," Jin stated in an irritated voice.

 

"No I'm not-" Shika started, but Jin wacked him again with his tail, his red fur puffing out around him, a sure sign that the kitsune was upset about something.

 

"You forget that we are connected, I've been with you for years now, I know what's going through you head. You think that I don't see your dreams when you sleep too?" Jin said, there was a clear hint of sorrow in his voice that everyone heard, but didn't say anything about it, it wasn't there place.

 

"You can see my dreams when I sleep?" Shikamaru asked, surprised by the information.

 

"Of course I can. Anyone of us can see into each other's dreams if we wanted to, but we kitsune's can enter those dreams whenever we want, especially if they're bad dreams that haunt you at night." Jin hopped off of Shikamaru's head and landed like a cat on the floor in front of his master, "who do you think wakes you up when you're having one, after all those times, I thought you were smarter than that."

 

Shika watched Jin, his small back was to him so that he could admire his bright red fur, "jin, I'm sorry, I-I didn't m-"

 

"Save it, thee sooner  we get out of her, the better, for the both of us," Jin said as he walked away from the group.

 

The other's Watched the little fox walk away before turning back to Shikamaru, "if it makes you feel better, Shika, we didn't know that they could do that either," Haku said, patting Shikamaru on the shoulder before following after the little red fox.


	23. Chapter 23

**With Shikaku**

 

 

Shikaku stared down Kakashi, waiting for him to have the first word. When it looked like that wasn't going to happen, he spoke up, "what are you here for?" 

 

Kakashi shrugged his shoulders, "I want what I always want on a mission, a a smooth job, but we both know that that's not going to happen now, don't we?"

 

Shikaku nodded, "right, well, I don't know how I can help you out with that, if I don't know what your job was. Mind enlightening me?" 

 

Kakashi shrugged his shoulders again and turned his face towards the window, the moon outside was round and looked heavy. It also seemed like if a person were to stand up on the tallest building in the village, and with a bit of luck, they may very well touch the moon itself. The night was still and the village was quite, the villagers sleeping happily in their beds, no longer fearing the one tailed demon container, Gaara, roaming the streets and killing people. However, although Kakashi didn't know this in detail, Shikaku knew that everyone else at least had an idea of the ichibi's leaving the village a few years prier. Finally, Kakashi spoke, "what do you know about the night that the Ichibi left this village?" He asked as he turned his lone eye back onto Shikaku, his expression blank and hidden from the Nara head. 

 

Shikaku raised his eye brow at the turn of subject, "what does that have to do with me at that moment?" He asked, even though he had a pretty good idea.

 

"Oh, don't play games with me now...I thought that we where on the same page. Smooth jobs are so much better when the target co-operates, don't you agree?"

 

Shikaku chucked, "smooth jobs are nicer, but to have the job done right, well, that's just pushing it. Don't you think, Kakashi?" Kakashi chuckled at that, Shikaku got serious then, "what are you after? More importantly.....who sent you?"

 

"What do you mean? I told you, Minto sen-"

 

"Cut the crap, I know damn well that Minato-teme didn't send you with me when back at the village, it only looks like he did. In fact, come to think about it, you weren't the one that was following me on the way over here," Shikaku narrowed his eyes, "who are you?"

 

The room went deathly quite then, "who am I?" Kakashi asked, "so you don't know? Why, I'm hurt, Shikaku," Kakashi, or the person that was pretending to be Kakashi slowly started to to change, starting with their voice and going onto their appearance. Silver hair changed from defying gravity, to obeying it's laws, lengthening itself to a slight wavy waterfall. Their height shrunk down half a foot to it's original size. Strong, muscular build turned to a thin, petite, feminine body, "to think that you wouldn't know the chakra signature of your own wife."  (I but you all forgot about her until know, didn't ya?)

 

Shikaku gritted his teeth to keep from saying anything nasty that would accidentally give away information from his side of things. Instead of freaking out over his ex being here, instead of the man that he thought would be with him on this mission, he calmed down. "So...did you ask to go on this mission because you knew that I'd be involved, or were still holding out hope that my son would also be found on this mission somehow." It wasn't a question, they both knew this, but still, Yoshino played along.

 

"It was a fifty-fifty precent chance on both, but you were the higher fifty, so I went with you. Even though I was told many times that everyone had given up the search on baby boy, Shikamaru, and Naruto and Hinata also seemed to be a bit of a lost cause, I had to take my chances. It was only a matter of time until I got you alone and found out what you knew," Yoshino gave a sly smile, "I want to know what you know."

 

"And that would be?"

 

"I told you, don't play these games, you wont like what happens if you do." Yoshino threatened.

 

"You are delusional, even after so much time has gone by," Shikaku stated with a sigh, which wasn't a good thing to do in front of his ex.

 

"Hold your tough," Yoshino snarled, "what do you know about my love?"

 

"Nothing, apparently," Shikaku said in a board tone as he leaned up against the wall again. Putting his hands in his pocket, he went on to say, "I've known you for as long as I can remember, we went to school together, we became ninja together. We learned new things, hell, we even fought in the war together and still made it out alive." He shook his head, "back then I thought, 'even though she's a bit rough around the edges and slightly controlling at times, at least no one's forcing her to like me. So why not?' And that was when I made the choice to make you mine, but what I didn't know was the painful secret that you were hiding from me."

 

"What are you talking about?" Yoshino asked, arms folded, angry.

 

Shikaku shook his head, "the secrets, the lies, for what? What was it for?"

 

"I don't know what your talking about," Yoshino said, even though she had a sinking feeling that she actually did.

 

"Yes you do, why hid it? Now that I've caught you red handed," Shikaku went on, not wanting to look at the woman in front of him any longer.

 

"What are you ev-"

 

"I know why you wanted to have sex with Shikamaru," he said, cutting her off.

 

"Wha-y-y-you do?" Yoshino's voice wavered as the feeling grew larger.

 

"You can't hid it any more," came a voice from a darker part of the room, scaring one out of two of the occupants, "you can't hid anything anymore." The person from the shadows slowly walked forward to reveal a second Shikaku.

 

Stunned, Yoshino looked between the two Shikaku's in the room before getting angry, "I thought you said we were alone, isn't that what we agreed on?"

 

"Oh, but we are alone, Yoshino," the second Shikaku said as he walked more into the light, he stopped in the center of the room room, between the two of them. "We were always alone, you and me, and a shadow, all alone in a dark room together without any interruptions."

 

"What are yo-" Yoshino said before sensing a change in the chakra of the first Shikaku, the one that she thought was the real one. She watched as the first slowly turned a dark shad of black until he looked like nothing but a shadow on the wall without anyone to cast it, the shadow deformed into into a shapeless blob. The shadow soon melded with the floor, flowing across the carpeted ground s if it came from a spilled glass of water until it flowed under the second Shikau's feet where it took it's shape once more. Yoshino looked up at him, "what jutsu was that?"

 

Shikaku gave her a sly smile, "that was my shadow, which I told you it was," he chuckle. "Although, I suppose that you wouldn't have caught onto that with where your mind was at the time."

 

"What, that couldn't be, how could you have cast a jutsu without me knowing?" Yoshino asked.

 

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Shikaku said as he turned away from his ex, he started to walk away until he felt the cold, metallic blade of a kuni press against the side of his neck, "do't letting me leave until you got what you came for? Or are you just happy I was the one that knows your little secret so that you can do away with me without anyone blaming you?" He looked back at a porcelain mask of a bear face, behind him was an ANBU with a dog mask and gravity defying hair, like before, "well, at least I know that he was actually with me all along." He turned to his other side, there was the face of cat and another bird, four in total, "well, now that you've got me, what are you going to do now?"

 

Yoshino walked around the bear and the dog masked ANBU until he came into his view, "you know what we came her for, not hand it over and all of this will go away."

 

Shikaku chuckled again, "I'm sorry my dear, but you have the wrong guy, maybe if you let me go, I'll take you to the right one," he said with a toothy grin, unlike himself.

 

But Yoshino didn't notice, "don't fuck with me, Shikaku, I know you have what we came for, now hand them over."

 

" _Them_ _?_ Why, who could you be talking about?" Shikaku asked, "am I hiding someone from you?"

 

"With you actions today, you might as well have," said the dog masked ANBU.

 

"What are you people talking about, I don't have anything to give you, nor do I know who you're talking about," Shikaku said with a frown."

 

"You know what we're talking about, just hand over the location-" started the cat masked ANBU but Shikaku gave a big yawn that interrupted him.

 

"Sorry, but I have no idea what or who you're talking about, what location? I don't know what that is, is it a bar, a shop? I don't know."

 

Yoshino looked at Shikaku closely, suddenly her eyes widened, "this is not the one we've been looking for."

 

"What?" Bear asked, he looked, they had him restrained four ways without anyway out, how could this not be the one? "You where talking to him as dog when he came in, we all saw it, how can that be?"

 

"I saw it all too, Shikaku Nara entered this room and never left, he did cast a genjutsu to hid himself from you in the first part of the conversation. Even though that stays true, this Shikaku has never left this room," said the bird mask ANBU.

 

"I sense all of our chakrs signature, but this man before us seems to be telling us the truth," said the cat masked ANBU.

 

"What do you mean, Cat?" Asked dog.

 

Cat stepped closer to the captured Shikaku, "I think that this guy maybe a shadow clone that was somehow placed here without us knowing about switch out." He looked at Yoshino, "I don't know how he did it, but he seemed to have used you to feed off of and also mask the fact that he wasn't the real one."

 

"Bingo," said the captured 'Shikaku', "now why don't you guys be nice neighbors and let me go, huh?"

 

"No, that's not happening, not on my watch," Yoshino said. She pointed her finger in 'Shikaku's' face, "who are you and who do you work for? Who sent you?"

 

"Whoa, whoa, slow your roll girly, you're about a hundred years to young to be on equal ground with me. As for who I work for? No one, I'm a-what you call it, freelancer? Yeah, and also, I don't need to work for anyone because that shit's boring, why'd I let someone else tell me what to do when I can tell myself what to do instead."

 

"So who are you?" Asked the bird masked Anbu.

 

The fake Shikaku smiled, "wouldn't you like to know, dear?" Just then, smoke of green and yellow started to fill the room. The Anbu were too busy looking for the source of the smoke to notice that the fake Shikau had tossed something onto the floor from his pocket. "It was nice hanging around with you, but I really do have to run now,"

 

"Oh no you don't, you're not going any-" but before Yoshino could finish that statement, the fake went up into smoke that blended in with the rest of the smoke in the room. The room quickly filled with smoke that made it hard to see, let alone see, they had no choice but to leave the room for air, already knowing that they had lost their one good lead. "Next time, I won't let you slip away next time," Yoshino said to herself between coughs.

 

TBC......

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so so so sorry, but this was all that I could write for right now, but I'll try to do more soon. Also, I'm open to suggestions, like a love triangle? Maybe, let me know what you, the readers, would like to see more of, or less of, in the up coming chapters.


	24. Lost in the storm

**With Naruto and the others**

 

Naruto, Gaara, Shikamaru, Haku, and Hinata hopped out of the portal followed by, Red, Soul, Jin, Aiko and Kubo. They landed outside the gates of Kurama's house, sanding on the other side stood Hidi and Hati, in his fox form, waiting for them. "It's nice to see you kits dropping by, though I do wish you would do it more often," Hati said with a foxy smile. 

 

"Why don't you brats get in here and we'll have lunch?" Hidi said as she opened the gates for them.

 

Naruto and the others wasted no time getting into to the house, even thought they had went to dinner a few hours ago, they didn't really eat much. They were either too busy catching up with Shikaku or analyzing everything that was going on around them to eat. It might have been because it was the first time they were having dinner with someone from one of their past and was therefore a potential enemy, but either way, they were too alert to relax and eat. Now, because of that, they were starving. When they entered the kitchen they were met with two thing, one the delicious sight and smells of Hidi's and (fox) Hinata's home cooked meals, and second, A glaring at colorful squares on the table. "A-nii-san, what are you doing here?" Asked Naruto, startling A out of his inner thoughts.

 

"Huh? Me? What about you guys, shouldn't out you be in Suna right about now getting ready to go to the first event?" A asked as he slid the colorful squares to the side.

 

"We were there," Shikamaru said, "but we had to leave because Gaara wanted to bring us here for something."

 

"Oh? And what could that be?" A asked.

 

"Shikaku should be here soon, I'll explain then," Gaara said as he took a seat next to Mabui and gladly accepted the bowl of shrimp ramen that Hidi offered to him.

 

A shrugged his shoulders and went back to glaring at the colorful squares again, "what's he doing?" Hinata asked as she sat across from Mabui.

 

"He's trying to figure out what to do with the decorations for your parent's and siblings upcoming party," Mabui said before taking another bite of her yakisoba.

 

"Couldn't he have done that back home?" Haku asked as he took a sip of his tea.

 

"I suppose, but he opened up the portal to get here without my input," Mabui said.

 

"How'd that happen?" Naruto asked as he slurped his pork ramen.

 

Mabui thought about that for a moment, "well, it's started when we were in the kage office...."

 

* * *

 

**One hour earlier**

 

"It was raining the first time we met, do you remember?" A asked as he walked into his office with Mabui.

 

"Yes A-sama, I remember that day bright as day, it was the day that you tried to hit on my sister and she turned you down for Killer B." Mabui shot back stockily as she wrote something down on her clipboard.

 

A sweat dropped, "oh, right," he sighed, "well anyways, that day something else happened to me."

 

"And what would that be, A-sama?" Mabui asked, almost half interested in what the fourth rikage was about to say.

 

"That day, my father got remarried to my step mother, Kurama, do you remember their wedding?" A asked remembering that day, it was a bright and colorful event that featured a very....bright declaration of love between his father and his step-mother. Don't get him wrong, he liked the wedding and all, but he didn't see the point of making it so bright and colorful, a simple, traditional wedding would have been just fine in his mind, but no, his mother wanted everyone to remember the event forever and ever. He sighed, "and of course, my sister was born the year after on the day of their wedding anniversary."

 

"Oh that's right, wasn't your youngest brother also born on that day too, but only two years later?" Mabui asked, A slumped down in his chair, "now that you bring it up, isn't their four year anniversary coming up soon?"

 

A dragged his hand down his face, "yes, and since Naruto and Shikamaru are off with the others in Suna for the next few months, I have to be the one to plan out the event this year."

 

Mabui looked at him slightly confused, "why don't you higher someone to plan out the party for you? I mean, you are the fourth rikage now, you have a lot of paper work to do, you don't have the time to be planning your parent's wedding anniversary."

 

"No way! Are you kidding me Mabui?!" A all but yelled.

 

"What d-"

 

"I can't let someone else plan the party, let alone something so special as a important family event as sacred as a birthday or an anniversary!" A shivered, "Naruto would never let me live it down, and B would rap about it until we all start to think his raps are any good."

 

Mabui sweat dropped, "wow, I didn't realize how highly your family holds these kinds of event, A-sama."

 

"That's it!" A suddenly got up from his seat and hopped over his desk, "I know how to fix this problem," he grinned as he started doing hand signs.

 

Mabui looked at him, puzzled, "you're not going to try to get out of work by using more shadow clones, are you?"

 

"Hmp, please, I'm not wasting anymore shadow clones on those evil stack of paper," A said as he finished the last of his hand seals. When he was done, a portal opened up, "come on Mabui, I've got someone to see."

 

Mabui watched as A jump through the portal first, she turned back to the office to see ten rikage's working on paper work, two signing documents, and one scheduling meetings. Which was supposed to be what she was meant to do, but if A already had it cover, she saw no point in sticking around and jumped threw the portal too.

* * *

 

 

".....And now we're here," she said as she finished up her food.

 

By now, Naruto and Shikamaru was looking at A, "stop staring at me like that! It's not my fault that I don't know anything about planning stuff like this," A looked away from the two boys as he sipped his tea. There was a knock that came to the door then, "hm? Is that the guy that you've been waiting for?" He asked as he watched (fox) Hinata get up to answer the door, Shikamaru and Naruto nodded.

 

A moment later, Shikaku walked into the kitchen, "hay guys, sorry I'm late, I got caught up in a meeting," he said as he sat down.  A second later, a puff of smoke appeared in the cent of the kitchen to reveal another Shikaku, "how'd it go?" he asked the second Shikaku.

 

The second Shikaku smiled, "better than expected," he said before going up into smoke again. This time when the smoke cleared, Kurama was standing there with a foxy grin, "it seems that the extra person was actually your ex-wife the whole time," he said as he sat down in an empty space next to Naruto. "So, how are my kits doing today? When I felt your chakra signatures leave the hotel, I had a feeling that you all would show up here sooner or later. But i would like to know why," he said as he spread some jam on his toast before taking a bite of it.

 

"Shikamaru's seeing those things again," Gaara said when no one else spoke up.

 

"Seriously man? I thought you weren't going to say anything about that!" Shikamaru said with a deep pout on his face.

 

"I said that I wouldn't say anything as long as it doesn't affect you, but now it's affecting you," Gaara said as he finished his second bowl of ramen.

 

"Is it really that bad now?" Haku asked, "I thought mama took care of your eyes before Jay was born."

 

Shikamaru was quite as he leaned back in his seat, pouting, his blueberry waffles seemingly forgotten, Shikaku looked at his son worriedly. "Shikamaru? What are they talking about?" He asked, Shikamaru looked down at his half eaten waffles, not wanting to meet his father's eyes, "Shikamaru.....what do you see?"

 

Kurama was quite for a moment before slowly nodding his head, "he's been seeing anythings for a while now, mostly things that aren't there, and some things that shouldn't be. However, lately....it seems that he's been seeing other things too, and I also suspect that he's not been sleeping lately?" Shikamaru jumped slightly when his eyes met Kurama's for a second before turning them away, Kurama nodded, "he hasn't been sleeping at all recently, from what I can see that is."

 

"But I thought that only Panda-chan could stay up continuously like that," Naruto said remembering how Gaara used to be before they fixed his seal.

 

"Yes, Gaara used to stay up all day and night without a wink of sleep, but that was because of his seal. It forced him awake whenever he tired to go to sleep, so the only kind of sleep he could get was to meditate so that his body could rest, while his mind stayed awake." Kurama shook his head, "because of that seal, Gaara couldn't get proper sleep, but now that the seal is fixed, it seems that he can't sleep enough, right Gaara?" He chuckled as the other red head at the table blushed and looked away, "anyways, Shikamaru's a different case.

 

"How so?" Shikaku asked, "I'm assuming that Shikamaru's recent lack of sleep would case him to hallucinate about things that aren't and shouldn't be there. Although I can't imagine why that is," he looked at Shikamaru's for a moment before turning back to Kurama, "what's going on with my son?"

 

Kurama sighed as he put down his jam covered toast, he leaned back in his chair and folded his arms, "I can't say for sure what his problem is now, when it happened last time, that was a whole other thing."

 

"What happened last time?" Shikaku asked.

 

Kurama thought back to a few years ago, back before they went to Kumo.....

* * *

 

**Flashback**

 

_Naruto, Shikamaru, and Gaara were playing out in the ruins of Uzu, they had just gotten to the abandoned village a few hours ago and were allowed to roam about freely. Shikamaru and Naruto were looking through the buildings that were a little more damaged than the others, they thought that with so much damage, there may be more things to find there. However, Gaara chose not to go into the those buildings with them, fearing that they may collapse in on themselves while they where in there, so he ended up staying outside for the time being, while Naruto and Shikamaru looked around inside. The two didn't find too much inside some of the ruined buildings, some old books, ripped clothes, broken dishes and shards of glass, nothing too special. Although, when they got closer to the building close to the edge of the village, they found a lone building that was much more ruined than the other's they had seen. The place looked like it had once been a grand place where someone would come home and hang their hat on a hook, a few servants to wait on them, when Naruto thought that the place would have servants because it was so big and all. The building, compared to all the other's they had seen, was by far the largest one there was, "I bet this place used to be a compound or something," suggested Shikamaru."_

 

_"What makes you think that?" Gaara asked as he looked up at the large building._

 

_"What, haven't you seen  a clan compound before?" Naruto asked._

 

_Gaara shook his head, "no, there aren't any clans in Suna, not anymore, the wars wiped them all out."_

 

_"Really?" Naruto said, "man that sucks, I hope that we don't have to fight in a war when we grow up, I don't want us to get wiped out."_

 

_Shikamaru chuckled, "we wont get wiped out as long as we know how to fight and plan, we should be fine." He turned his attention back to the ruined compound, "maybe if we train hard enough, we could put our heads togther and think of a way to survive anything that comes our way."_

 

_Naruto smiled, "yeah, we'll be the beat ever, maybe we'll come up with a name for ourselves, together as a group and as individuals." He boasted as he pumped is fist in the air, "we'll be strong and win every fight we face, who's with me?"_

 

_Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders, "well I wouldn't want to die before I get to see my old man again, so count me in," he bumped fist with Naruto and they both turned to Gaara expectantly._

 

_"O-oh, y-yeah, I'll work hard too, I don't want my family dying on me if I can help it," he said with a small blush on his face as he bumped fist with  the other's._

 

_"Alright!" Naruto cheered and broke away from the two boys, "lets go inside and see if they have any jutsus we can use to train with!" Naruto ran over to the broken down compound and started to look for a way inside, most of the walls were unstable and some where crumbling, so scaling the wall was out of the question. He found some large windows and tried to open each of them, most couldn't move from their shut position and the others were to broken to do anything to. Finally they came around the back of the compound and found a door that looked like it had been cut in half once upon a time, they guessed it was during the last war. Luckily, the door was cut in half, the bottom half was taken away somewhere some time ago, but the top part of the door was still there, it came to a stop a inch or two over their heads so they could just walk in. On the inside everything was dark and a damp smell made it's way to their noses, "this place must not have been used for a very long time," Naruto said as he looked around the place. Everything he saw in the dim light was either burned or had water damage from all the rain that seemed through the broken roof, other things were just worn with age and seemed to have fallen to the ground under its own weight because of it. A few times Naruto and Shikamaru had to jump out of the way because something decided to fall to the ground because of the water that weighted it down, or because it's aging exterior could not stand to be attached to the ceiling any longer._

 

_Walking through the hallway wasn't much better, there was barely any light to see where it was that they were going, "man I can barely see two feet in front of me." Naruto complained as he felt his pants pockets, their clothes were over sized because they were all wearing the spare clothes they bought before heading over to Suna. He was looking for something to use as a light so they could see, but he came up empty, he looked into his bag and only found food, "well that's a bummer." He moped, "it's getting hard to see, and we don't even have a flashlight?"_

 

_Shikamaru checked his pockets and bags, "I'm coming up empty too, what should we do. Come back tomorrow maybe?"_

 

_Just as Naruto was thinking about what they should do, Gaara came over to them, "hay guys, I found this thing in one of the rooms, it's a lighter, see?" Gaara said as he held up the little device, "and I found some sticks laying around, we can make touches with them."_

 

_"Oh, good idea," Naruto took one of the sticks and Gaara handed the last one to Shikamaru, they then light one of the sticks and held the other up to the fire that was created. "Grate, now what should we do?"_

 

_"I think we should check this room next," Shikamaru said as he turned to a door that was a few feet away from them. Now that they had enough light to see, the place seemed to be even worst than he they thought. The ceiling looked even more dangerous than before, like it would cave-in at any moment, the floors where littered with wood and  broken glass, screws and nails. It was a good thing that they kept their shoes on. The door that Shikamaru pointed to was larger than the others, it had the Uzumki swirl on the door. "I think that there's something behind here," he said as he walked up to the door and touched it, he turned back to Naruto and Gaara, "we should look inside here for things to help us train."_

 

_Naruto shrugged, "fine with me," he said as he went over to the door, "you coming with us?"_

 

_Gaara looked at the door hesitantly, "are you sure that we should do this? What if there's still someone living here or something?"_

 

_Naruto looked around the place, "maybe, but who would want to live in the ruins of an old village anyways?" Gaara shrugged his shoulders, "exactly, you don't know because no one would, well, that I know of. Anyways, lets stop wasting time, Kurama and Shukaku will be calling for us soon, so lets try to get through as much as we can while we can."_

 

_"We could also come back when everyone's asleep or something, too," Shikamaru said as he started to push open the door, but it wouldn't move. "It's stuck?"_

 

_"See, it can't even open, lets just check somewhere else and come back to this one in the morning," Gaara insisted._

 

_"Don't be silly Gaara, he just needs a little help, here hold this," Naruto handed Gaara his torch and went over to help Shikamaru push open the door. With a few more tries, the door was pushed half way open, another push and the door swung all the way open, revealing the room beyond. Together, the trio looked around the room to see what they could see, inside the room was large and wide. There in the center of the room was the Uzumaki swirl again and next to that was a some stairs, it wasn't a whole bunch, just three or four, they lead up to another level of the room that had a large round table and some chairs. Oddly enough, this room was the only thing that remained undamaged from the happenings of war, "what's that thing over there, on the table?"_

 

_Naruto point his to the table and Shikamaru took his torch and shined it into the room, "I don't know, you wanna get a closer look?" Naruto nodded and the two walked over the stairs, Shikamaru stopped when he noticed that something was missing. He turned back to the door to see Gaara was still standing there, "what's the matter now? There's nothing wrong with this room, look, there's not even anything broken in here."_

 

_"But that's what worries me," Gaara said timidly._

 

_Naruto turned back around to look see why Shikamaru stopped, he was standing on the stairs on the second step, "what's the matter now?"_

 

_"Gaara's worried about the room," Shikamaru informed him._

 

_"Why?" Naruto asked, Shikamaru shrugged, Naruto rolled his eyes and got off the steps. "You should really use your words more," he said as he passed Shikamaru, he stopped in front of Gaara and took his torch back from him, then he took his now free hand in his own, holding it tight, "just hold my hand and don't let g, 'kay?"_

 

_Gaara blushed, he wasn't used to holding hands with someone else, he's never held hands with anyone else, ever. Now he was holding Naruto's hand and he couldn't help but thing how warm and soft it felt in his, "0-0-0ka-ay," he stammered as he allowed Naruto to lead him into the room._ _Once Gaara was in, the three of them made their way up the steps to the second level in the room, they stood atop the steps and looked down at the other half of the room. From where they stood with their torches in hand, they could now see that the Uzumaki swirl in the center of the room was not like the swirl they had seen in all the other buildings. No, this one was different, it was odd, the swirl itself was purple, not red like all the other times they 'd seen it. The symbol was also had three commas around the center, and around the edge was outlined shapes of animals, "what kind of animals do you thing they are?" Gaara asked._

 

_"Donno," Naruto said, he looked up at Shikamaru, "what do you think?"_

 

_Shikamaru shrugged, "no clue," he looked at Naruto and Gaara, "why do you think this one's different from the others?"_

 

_Naruto shrugged again, "I don't know, but we can worry about that later," he said turning his attention on the table behind them, "hay look over there, is that a crystal ball?" He asked as he walked over to the table to get a better look, "I've seen jiji use this once or twice before."_

 

_"You mean that perverted old sage frog sage?" Shikamaru asked._

 

_"No, no, not him, it's another old guy, but less pervy." Naruto explained, "remember the sandime hokage that we meet before we left the village?" Shikamaru thought for a second then nodded, "well I've seen him use one of these before, I think you need to put in some chakra to get it to work, but I don't know how much." Naruto inspected the glass ball from all angels as if he was looking for an 'ON' switch, "you guys wanna try it out?"_

 

_"Sure, how's it work?" Shikamaru asked while Gaara only watched, still holding onto Naruto's hand._

_"Okay, I think we should just put our chakra into it and see what happens next, um," Naruto looked at his hand, he had his torch in one and Gaara's hand in the other. Not knowing what else to do, he lifted his and Gaara's joined hands and placed it on top of the crystal ball, Shikamaru put his hand over Naruto's, thinking that it wouldn't make much of a difference where he placed his hand on the ball. Remembering back to their brief lessons in chakra control, Naruto, Shikamaru, and Gaara all filtered their chakra into the ball. For a moment, nothing happened, Naruto pouted and was about to take his hand off the ball, but then it started to glow a bright white color, but then the glowing started to die down, "I think we need to put in some more," he said. He pushed in some more chakra into the ball, Shikamaru followed suit, Gaara, even though he still wasn't sure about all this, he put in some more chakra of his own. The ball started to glow again, this time a little brighter this time, but then the light started to die down again, "just a little more," he said as they put in even more chakra, he was starting to feel a little tired, but at the same time, his curiosity was getting the better of him. As they kept filtering more of their chakra into the ball, the light that came from it glowed brighter and brighter, soon it was shinning almost as bright as the sun._

 

_"Now what?" Shikamaru asked as he started to huff and puff, he was getting tired, they all were, even thought they had some training in chakra control, they never had to use so much chakra at once before. Without getting a reply, a strong force over took them and pushed them away from the crystal ball forcefully, they ended up hitting the wall behind them, hard. Shikamaru was the first to recover, "what was that?" He asked as he watched the crystal ball, he half expected its light to go out again, but this time it didn't, the light started to glow brighter and brighter until the whole room was under it's glow. Every corner was uncovered, every shadow was slain, looking around the room, Shikamaru found that there were more to the room than what they first saw. In one corner of the room on his right was a bright blue door, on the other side of the room, his left, there was a bright red door (where have I seen this reference before?). "What are those doors for?"_

 

_Naruto got up from the ground and shook his head, "wha?" He asked as he looked around to get his bearings._

 

_Gaara sat up and held his head, "hm? What happened?"_

 

_"Same day man," Shikamaru said getting up to check on his friends, "you guys okay?"_

 

_Naruto gradually regained his mind and slowly got to his feet, "well that was something," he said with a chuckle, he looked around and gasped._

 

_"What's the matter?" Gaara and Shikamaru asked together._

 

_"Look!" Naruto pointed to where his stick had fell out of him hand due to the force from the crystal ball, he walked closer to it. The torch lay on the ground, still burning and un-effected, "it must have fell out of my hand,when the ball pushed us back." He observed the burning flames closely from a safe distance._

 

_Shikamaru and Gaara observed it as well, "why's it burning still?" Shika asked._

 

_Naruto straightened up and and looked around the room again, "I don't know, but there's something about this place that's not right."_

 

_"What do you mean?" Shikamaru asked._

 

_"There's a feeling in here that I'm not sure if I like or not,"  Naruto said when suddenly the light from the crystal ball grew even brighter, like a burst of light, before going dim. It stayed at a light glow for a few moments before it started to rise up from the table. The three boys watched as the glowing ball hung in mid hair for a while until Naruto asked, "what's it doing?"_

 

_Shikamaru took a step forward and stopped as the light from the ball turned a light green before turning a darker shade, "whoa...."_

_Gaara took a step closer to pull Naruto away from the ball of light, but that prompted the ball turned a pinkish-red color before changing to a darker red. "Why'd it do that?"_

 

_"I don't know," Shikamaru said, "but I want to find out," he took another step forward towards the ball and it changed back to green, slowly turning a darker shade as he went. When he was almost under the ball, it moved, Gaara warned him to be careful, but Shikamaru kept going. The ball slowly came down to meet Shikamaru halfway, he stopped just in front of it and lifted his hands up towards it, he thought that he ball would float into his arms, but it stayed put. By now, Shikamaru was fixated on the ball, he reached up and brushed a finger on the surface of the ball, the color changed from dark green to a bright yellow color, sending a spark through him. He was so focused on the ball that he hardly notice when Naruto and Gaara came up to him, the two were worried about him and pulled him away from the ball of changing light. Now that he was away from the light, he turned on his friends, "what was that for?" He asked, he was slightly mad that he was interrupted, but also a little confused on how he could get so caught up in a ball of light._

 

_"Haven't you noticed?" Naruto asked._

 

_"Notice what?" Shikamaru asked, now honestly confused._

 

_"Look around," Gaara put in his two cents, "don't you notice something...different?"_

 

_Shikamaru looked around the room and found nothing out of the ordinary, not that he could see, he couldn't feel anything different around them either. "No, what are you guys even talking about?"_

 

_"I don't think we should stay here any longer, this was a bad idea," Naruto said nervously as he watched the ball suspended in the hair a yard away. "There' s something here I don't like."_

 

_"Oh yeah? What is it?" Shikamaru asked._

 

_"I don't know what it is," Naruto answered, he was starting to get frustrated, how could he not know what he was feeling? He always knew what he was feeling._

 

_"I think we should leave now, I don't like it here anymore," Gaara said._

 

_"You never liked it here to begin with," Shikamaru sighed, "fine, just give me a second."_

 

_"What are you going to do?" Gaara asked._

 

_"What's it look like? I'm gonna take this thing with me, I want to see it out in the light," Shikamaru walked back over to the ball of light and reached up for it, the ball turned light pink, almost as if it was happy._

 

_"No don't!" Naruto and Gaara said together, but it was too late, Shikamaru reached up and put his hands around the ball, when he did that, the room started to shake. Naruto looked up at the ceiling and walls, there was something that was about to happen, whether it was good or bad, Naruto wan't wasn't sure he wanted to find out. "Shikamaru, I think it's about time to get out of here," he said turning back to the ex-Nara, he saw that Shikamaru seemed to be too captivated by the crystal ball hear what he had said. He turned to Gaara, "come on, we're getting out of here," he walked over to Shikamaru and pulled him over to the stairs by the arm, "lets go."_

 

_"What about the ball?" Gaara asked as he eyed the ball in Shikamaru's hands._

 

_Naruto shook his head, "we'll deal with it outside, lets get out of here before this place collapses on us," he said. Gaara nodded and followed him down the steps and out the way they came, as they were walking, he notice that the walls of the compound was shaking as if they were going through a earthquake. The walls trembled, the floors shook with violence, things fell to the ground from the ceiling, the whole place looked to be falling apart from the seams. When thy got back outside of the compound, they kept moving away from the shaking building, braking into a small run after reaching the door they used to enter. They ran and ran until they were far enough away from the compound that they could see the outline of it, they were on the outskirts of the forest when they turned back to see the compound. They had turned just in time to see the thing fall in on itself, they all breath a sigh of relief knowing that they weren't inside, then they turned to another matter, "so..." Naruto began, "what should we do with this thing?"_

 

_"It's not like we can return it now," Gaara began, turning back to the collapsed building that they just left, "it's gone now."_

 

_"It's wants us to keep it," Shikamaru said suddenly._

 

_The two looked at him, "what do you mean?" Asked Naruto, he looked around at the trees and bushes, "what want's us to keep it?"_

 

_Shikamaru looked up at them, eyes serious, "this ball is special, its lucky and it wants us to keep it."_

 

_Gaara looked at Naruto for a while, then he looked between Shikamaru and the glass ball in his hands. He knew what it was like to be crazy, be was still a little crazy for himself, however, how was he supposed to handle someone else's crazy? Thinking quickly, he said, "lets see how it goes for now."_

 

_"Gaara?" Naruto asked, "we don't know anything about this thing, what if it's da-"_

 

_"That's why we're keeping it Naruto," Gaara looked at the ball in Shika's hands, "if this affects you badly, I'm telling Kurama and Shukaku, got it?"_

 

_Shikamaru nodded, "yeah, I got it," the two of them nodded their understanding._

 

_But Naruto rolled his eyes, "alright, but if that thing starts doing some weird stuff, don't say I didn't warn you, 'cuz I did."_

 

_"Deal," Gaara said._

 

_Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders, "sounds good to me," they then turned around to head to where the other's were supposed to be playing while they searched the buildings. Unknown to the three of them, there was a Killer B that had seen and heard the whole thing, but was keeping it a secret for the time being._

 

**Flashback end**


	25. Hard work

Karuma sighed, "alright you three, I think it's about time you tell me what happened after that day," he said folding his arms over his chest. 

 

Naruto looked at Shikamaru and Gaara, then he looked at everyone else at the table, should he tell them? Shikamaru, seeing the hesitation in Naruto's eyes, and the way Gaara looked down at his empty bowl, he decided that it was up to him to tell them what happened. "You don't know this, but it too us somewhere," he stared, grabbing everyone's attention.

 

"Where did it take you guys?" Hinata asked.

 

"More importantly, why didn't we know that you let onee-chan!" Came a high pitched cry that startled almost everyone at the table, they turned around to see Kohaku, Menma, and Neko standing at the door way. Behind Neko, Kurama could see J and Maya hiding behind their curly haired older brother, turning back to Menma, the one who yelled in the first place, "well?" He asked impatiently. 

 

"Maybe you guys should tell us how you're here when you were supposed to be with Shukaku, then we might be inclined to talk." Gaara said narrowing his eyes at Menma, he suspected that the green eyed blond was the one that had brought them here, despite all the times that he's acted dumb and playful, there was a underlying hint of genius there.

 

"Uh, hee hee, I guess I should," Menma said as he scratched the back of his head, he chuckled nervously, out of all the people that he could be scared of, Gaara and Naruto were by far the scariest when they were upset or angry. "Um, well, while we were still training with Shukaku-ojiji, we all started to miss you guys a lot, and um," he scratched his head some more as he tried to think of something else to say.

 

Koharu, being the kind little brother that he was, decided to help his sibling out, "what Menma means to say is that, we wanted to come to this realm to see if you guys were here for any reason," he explained.

 

"Hm? Why, is the training with Shukaku not going well?" Haku asked after a sip of tea.

 

"Uh, well, um...." Kohaku paused, he wasn't sure how to explain their situation to them.

 

Luckily Neko got tired of watching his older brother flounder in front of their older siblings, so he spoke up, ready to end the explanations, "Shukaku-ojiji's pregnant and he can't train us as well as he did before. We're here to get help with the rest of our training before we take our end of the season exams." 

 

"Oh right, it is getting close to winter time," A said from his side of the table. The end of the season exam is something new that the kumo ninja academy started doing after Naruto and the others suggested a way to improve the results of their future ninjas. The end of the season exam is done twice a year around the time that the chunin exams are heals, although they are much shorter than the chunin exams, they are just as effective for providing positive results for academy students. The exams start after the first year academy students learn the basics of the ninja world, the exams are done in two parts, one part taijutsu and survival, one part ninjuts and kenjutsu. The level of intensity is slightly different for each year of students, starting from 'somewhat easy' for first years, and going up to 'export level' for graduating students. There is also no ranking system as in 'Rookie of the year' and 'Konoichi of the year', because honestly, what ninja would advertise their skill level so that their enemies could later figure out a way to beat them? When Naruto, Gaara, Hinata, Haku, and Shikamaru arrived in kumo and started going to the academy, they all realized that, other than kenjutsu, kumo's teaching wasn't much different from anywhere else. Kumo did give more details on what they knew about other villages, their weaknesses, their strengths, they gave information on how to treat wounds and how to survive when your low on food in a foreign land. kiri did much the same thing, but most of their focus was on ninjutsu and some kenjutsu for those that wished to use a sword in battle. However, unlike the chunin exams, the students that fail a test would have to take a remedial lesson on the thing that they failed on before they could continue on to the next level of training. Now, since the suggestion of the end of season exams came to pass, kumo has had a much higher graduation rate than before, that includes the few civilian students that joined the academy and made it through the exams. Most civilian children that want to join the academy are given extra classes in their first two years of joining the academy so that they may train to be on the same level as the rest of the students that come from ninja families. Also, during these two years of training, the civilian students are given the choice on continuing to program or to drop out and go to a civilian schools instead. Later are given given the choice to work in the missions office, since anyone that works in the mission office must have some years of ninja training to be able to work there. This is mostly in case of intruders that manage to infiltrate the village, they would be able to to defend themselves and the village from anyone trying to steal village secrets. The end of season exams and thee civilian training options have given the rest of the village a grater respect for Hinata, Haku, Gaara, Shikamaru, and Naruto since they came, not just because of all the good they have done to improve the ninja academy, but also the village since stronger and better educated ninja's mean more missions and more money sent their way. If A say anything about his younger siblings, its that they are angels sent from heaven, even when they do get on his nerves trying to copy Killer B's horrible raping skills. He sighed happily as he thought about all that had changed since their arrival, which brought about another thought that he had recently remembered, it made him frown.

 

Kurama shook his head, "you guys really shouldn't travel here without someone knowing," he said with a frown at the younger children.

 

Neko nodded his head, "we know, that's why we asked Shukaku-ojiji if he would come with us."

 

"And where is he now?" Shikaku asked as he wondered if they actually meant to say that Shukaku was a person that was named after the sand demon, not the actually ichibi. But since in one of Shikamaru's letter said something about Kurama being the actual kyuubi, he had a feeling that they were talking about the ichibi.

 

"He's in the bathroom taking a bath, he said he hadn't been feeling well for a while now," Neko said as (fox) Hinata handed him a tuna sandwich and a drink.

 

"What do you mean by 'not feeling well'?" Asked Shikamaru as he played with J's hair, "I've never heard of a tailed beast getting sick before."

 

Kurama nodded, "neither have I," he said with a thoughtful look, he was had a feeling of what was going on with his younger brother, but he wanted to be sure. Meanwhile, a quick look around the table made him aware that there was one person that wasn't paying attention to the conversation, "A?" He said softly, getting the attention of the dark skinned male, "what's wrong?" 

 

A was pulled out of his thoughts by his 'mother's' worried voice, "oh, nothing, nothing."

 

Mabui took one look at A and knew what he was thinking about, "you're thinking about the letter that you received a few days back, aren't you?"

 

Everyone looked between her and A, "what letter are you talking about?" Kohaku asked as he took a seat next to Haku, they were usually very close, you could hardly ever find one without the other, unless Haku was on a mission.

 

A folded his arms, "about a day after you and father left for suna, a letter arrived to the kage tower," he glanced at Naruto and the other's worriedly, "it was from the leaf."

 

The air around the table was suddenly tense, "what the hell do those fuckers want now?!" Hidi all but yelled, braking the silence and startling the younger children.

 

"Hidi, there's no need to get so worked up," (fox) Hinata chastised her friend.

 

"But-" Hidi started, but the look coming from (fox) Hinata shut her up, "fine, have it your way, Foxy," Hidi sat back down in her seat with a pout.

 

(fox) Hinata nodded, she turned back to A, "as you were saying?"

 

"A few days back, konoha sent us, or rather me, a letter, it was an invitation to next years chunin exams." A explained, "they want Naruto and the others to come to the chunin exams next year as contenders in the exams, they're expecting out reply in the next few days."

 

Again, the table was silent for a long time, allowing the new information to sink in, "I don't want to go back there," Neko said in a small, sad voice."

 

"Same here," Shikamaru said as he looked into his half empty cup, J sat still on his brother's lap, sensing the sadness around him. Tears started to well up in the little boy's eyes and he started to cry, who could blame him? He was one one and a half years old, he was able to sense chakra better than anyone at the table, even Naruto and Hinata. Shikamaru comforted him the best he could, but Jay still sniffled now and then. Once the toddler was calmed, Shikamaru asked, "what should we do?"

 

"We have until next year to plan," Gaara started.

 

"Yes, but only a day or two to reply," Hinata stated.

 

Naruto looked around the table, "I think we should go," he simply said.

 

"What! But onee-chan, why?" Menma exclaimed. 

 

Naruto shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know, I don't remember anything from there, but it couldn't hurt to go back. If it's just for the exams, there's no harm in going, right?" He asked innocently, although Shikamaru and the others didn't see it as such, they thought that it was a plan doomed to fail, but they didn't want to tell Naruto that. Instead, they stayed silent, the curly haired blond saw that no one was responding to his idea. "C'mon guys, I know that the people that gave birth to us may not have done a very good job of it. In fact, I don't know what they have done up until we left, but I know that if they are already inviting us there to rise in the ranks, then-then why not just do it for the exams? I mean, it's not like we have to go back to the life we had before we left, but still..."

 

"He has a point," Kurama spoke up.

 

"But mama, this could be dangerous," Haku said, "there could be people there that recognize us."

 

"Don't worry, from what I understand, you all left before you were taught anything much from your own clans, or the academy." Mabui informed, "Hinata, from what I heard, you've improved greatly from when you were in the leaf village, so much so that if you were to go back, then your fighting style would no longer resemble the style of your former clan." She turned to Shikamaru, "you've trained in your own style and come up with new ways to blow up the competition," she turned to Gaara, "you no longer rely on Shukaku's power to defend yourself." She turned to Haku, "you can do much more with your kekki genki now than ever before, you've also learned how to control other elements, you all have, you've all become much stronger than before, but...." she finally turned to Naruto, "you are the one that have improved the most."

 

Naruto pouted, "how can you tell when someone's improved when they don't know how they used to be?" He asked solemnly,

 

"She may not know," Kurama started, "but I do." 

 

"So do I," Shikamaru said, "you kick ass when you fight."

 

"Yeah, onee-chan's the strongest girl I know, other than Hinata-onee-chan," exclaimed Maya happy as she sat next to Neko.

 

Maya may have lifted Naruto's spirits and placed a smile on his faace, but deep inside, he still felt down. Every time he tries to remember the village he came from, to think about the good things that might have happened to him and his friends before they left, but it's all coming up blank. He supposed that he might have blocked it all out, he remembered that he used to have bad dreams about something, but he could never remember them. Any dream that had to do with memories of his past or his treatment in the village, was immediately erased upon waking up. Naruto didn't know why, but maybe if he went back to thee village, he may recall something, he knows the reason that he left the village was because he was mistreated. However, he would like to remember the reason why they did it, why did they do what they did to push him over the edge. He sighed "thanks imouto," he said and ruffed Maya's hair, unlike most girls, Maya was very much a tomboy, she likes training with her big brothers and learning new moves from her big sister. She liked training with Naruto and Shikamaru the best because they were wild and unpredictable, she likes blowing things up just as much as they did. Although, Kurama and E sometimes worried that she may become too much like them, or even worse, she may turn into the mad bomber boy they met once when he came to kumo on a mission. 

 

Hati cleared his throat, drawing everyone's attention, "now that everyone's gathered and had something to eat, I think that it's time to move on to what you've all come here for." He stood up on his four legs and started towards the door, a second later, everyone at the table followed him, why the other servants cleared the table. Outside, Hati transformed into his human form, "I will allow the younger kits to fight as well, if they wish," he said as h stretched out his arms and legs. "Kurama-sama, would you like to help with their training with a light spar?"

 

Kurama shrugged, "sure, why not?" He looked at Jay, "Jay, would you like to learn some taijutsu with your brother and sisters?"

 

J looked up at his mother, "I watch, you fight," he said in his childish voice, (fox) Hinata came over to watch over him while the others spared.

 

Kurama chuckled, "okay then buddy, watch closely then," he walked over to stand next to Hati, "ready?"

 

"Ready when you are," Hati said getting into a pose.

 

"Ooh, eight against two, that doesn't seem to fare, now does it?" Hidi smiled as she walked over to the two men, "mind if I join you?"

 

"The more the merrier,"Kurama said as he looked over his kits, "matter of fact..." He looked over at A, "lets make this even more interesting, what do you say, A?"

 

A smirked, "that's fine with me," he said as he shrugged off his kage robe, "I may go easy on Maya, but that doesn't mean that I'll go easy on the rest of you." He cracked his knuckles and stood with Kurama and Hati.

 

Hati nodded, "give it all you got, show me how much you've grown," taking the invite, Naruto and the others took a a stance of their own choosing. Hinata took the stance of the Hidden Fist, Naruto took up the stance of the elemental Force, Shikamaru took the stance of the of a style he made up called Shadow Wind. Gaara took the stance of his own style he called Earth Demon, and Haku took the stance of his own style, Mist Fire. Since they were still young, Maya and the triplets didn't have their own style, so they took up the stance of the Striking Paw that they learned from Hati and Hidi. They all took a moment to gauge their opponent before they rushed forth, kicking and punching with all their strength.

 

Shikaku stood back with  J and the other Hinat, who transformed into her kitsune form so that J could pet her fur. He sat down next to the two, "I still can't believe that my son has learned so much without me there to teach him anything." He sighed sadly as he watched his son preform move after move that he had never seen used before, by anyone, let alone a child who's not even twelve years old. He remembered reading that Shikamaru was already a genin in kumo, he sort of expected as much, but to find that Naruto, Hinata, Gaara, and Haku have all passed on to become genin before anyone their age in the leaf village. Now that he thought about it, Naruto and the others have really shown how different kumo and konoha really are. 

 

"What did you expect, human?" Hinata asked in her soft voice as she looked at him with her purple and white eyes.

 

"What do you mean?" Shikaku asked, leaning forward he looked into the little fox's eye, "what are you trying to say."

 

"I know the kind of village that you are from, but I also know the kind of people that are born into you clan," the little fox said.

 

"Which means what to you?" Shikaku asked.

 

"Nothing much, although, the Kitsune clan is known to be very good friends to the Deer and Tanuki clans, what's not to say that yours and mine can't be friends as well?" Hinata flicked her tail lightly, wrapping it around a sleepy J, "your clan is filled with knowledge, as well as some tricky planning. We could get along well, you and I."

 

Shikaku looked at Hinata for a moment, "your offering...what exactly?"

 

HInata chuckled, it made a sound like wind chimes being blown around on a fall morning, "don't get the wrong idea human. I am simply offering you a service that doesn't come along every day."

 

"Again I ask, what are you offering me?" Shikaku asked.

 

"Not just you, but all of you clan, your bloodline, you kit." Hinata clarified, "for many a generation you clan has been partnered with the deer clan, but what if that was to change? What would you do?"

 

Shikaku leaned back on his elbows, "are you trying to replays the deer th-"

 

"No, no, silly human, you have it all wrong, like I said, the deer clan and mine have be friends for many years. Life times for you might have been a few weeks or months to us, a bond like that is not easily broken, so no." Hinata readjusted herself so that J was now laying down on her side, "there is a contract between us summons that dates back to the time of the sage of six path. The contract states that no summons can steal or kill another's summoner, however, if one or more summons head were to accept an alliance of mergence, then our summoners are allowed another summoning clan. This is what I offer to you, do you accept?"

 

Shikaku thought about the offer for a few moments, "you said that this needs to go through the summoning head. Who would that be?" Hinata turned her head in the direction of the fight and pointed her nose Kurama as she took down Gaara and Shikamaru at the same time, "hm, makes sense."

 

Hinata nodded her head, her hears suddenly perked up for a minute or two as if she heard something then they flattened against her head, "we should head inside now." She said getting up from her spot, her tail secured J on her back so he didn't fall when she got up, she took a couple of steps forward before looking back to Shikaku, "follow me" Shikaku took another look at the spar, no one seemed to notice their leave, he put his hands in his pocket and followed the little fox back inside. 

* * *

**Back in Konoha** _-sametime_

 

 

Minato walked onto the training field that he was supposed to meet Kushina at, in plain view, he was the only one there, however he knew that they wouldn't be alone. In the bushes, he could just make out the tip top of Shion's blond hair, his eldest son, M.J. was in the tree tops not too far away from his right, and Ryu was hiding behind some trees further away and to the left of where Shion was hiding. The quadruplets were at home being taken car of by their assigned caretakers for the day, Narumi (I litturally forgot about her while I was writing this, oops) was out training with the pervert, and after waiting for two extra minutes, Kushina finally arrived. "Mina-chan, I see you've brought the kids, that was...considerate of you," she said in a casual voice. 

 

Minato didn't pay her casualness of the situation any mind, even though it bothered him greatly. "Kurhina, I came here to find out what you've been keeping from me back then, but since the video revealed so much already, I thought that I should come and get the full story from you. The woman that started it all, so tell me, why'd you do it? To our own son no less."

 

Kushina looked down at her feet for a second, she took a deep breath in and let out slowly before turning to the blond kage, "why don't you call call out the rest of the family first? I'm sure that they would want to hear this too." 

 

Minato signaled to the hidden three, in a flash the trio were standing next to their father, staring down their mother, "start talking."

 

To be continued.....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout out to all of you who stay up late to read my stuff, that's really cool of you. And if this is your first time reading, thanks for reading, I'll make sure to post more frequently. Until next time, Ja ne.


	26. In the wind and sea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reasons why it took so long to upload this chapter: School & Work, they're both evil in their own ways.

In side the large house, Hinata, in her fox form lay J down in one of the spare beds, tucking him in before leaving the room, making sure to leave the door slightly open just in case. She walked passed Shikaku down the hall, said man just followed the fox without question. The walk down the hall was silently, like they were walking in a library, or maybe even a grave yard, it was a little creepy but Shikaku said nothing and waited to see what the little fox had to show him. Soon they came to a door, Hinata used her tail to open it, they continued down a pare of stars, each step echoing as they walked, this made Shikaku even more anxious to know where they were going. He was about to ask, when they finally came t a stop in front of a open door, Shikaku looked around the room, it was lit with candle light and a single chair was placed in the center of the room, "what is this place?" Shikaku asked, "what goes on here?"

 

"This place, my dear friend, is the contract room," Hinata explained as she slowly made her way over to the chair. She took a deep breath and changed back into her human form, she turned to him, "this place is in every head summons home. It is meant to be a place honorary summons and clan heads would meet to nominate the next clan head and holder of the contract. However, this tradition has long been forgotten and no one really uses their contract rooms anymore, I am hoping that this may change that."

 

"...And you think that I can help with that by allowing my clan to merge with yours? For summoning sake?" Shikaku asked.

 

Hinata shook her head, "no, not your clan, but you yourself."

 

Shikaku was a little taken aback by this, "me? Wait, what do you mean by that?"

 

Hinata sighed, "I knew this wasn't going to be easy to begin with, but allow me to explain this to you more clearly. The way this works is that you, the head of you clan and the holder of the deer contract, will marry Lord Kurama, the head of the Kitsune clan summons. In your union, you will bring together two clans at once, that means that you will also be apart of the Kitsune clan, as well as the Deer clan. Do you understand?"

 

Shikaku stood there, stunned, "s-s-so you what me and Kurama to get married to bring together two summoning clans? I'm sorry, but I'm not sure I see how this will work, not to be rude or anything, it's just that....well, your all summons, aren't you?"

 

Hinata nodded her head, unphased by Shikaku's words, "yes, that is right, we are summons, our true forms are that of animals, this much is true. Do you...have a problem with animals?"

 

Shikaku shook his head, "no, no, I have no problems with animals, it's just that, I am a human." Hinata nodded because this was plain to see, she wasn't sure why he was pointing it out, Shikaku saw the look on her face and sighed in frustration. "Look, I get that you are trying to bring together two clans that have had a special bond for an unknown amount of years, but like I said, I'm human, your summoning animals, logically, the two would just remain as friends, nothing more."

 

Hinata tilted her head to the side as she thought about what Shikaku said, then he mouth made a 'o' shape as she realized what was being said. "Ah, I see, my apologies, but may I ask, have you not heard the tail of Spice and Wolf?" She asked, the look on the Nara's face was a clear answer, "then allow me to tell you this. Long, long ago, be for I was born, there was a fox summons named Spice, she got lost in the human world and some how fell in love with a human that was given the name 'Wolf' by his village elders. It was said that his mother fell in love with a stranger that was passing through the village at the time, she had a son for the stranger, but he didn't want to be tied down, so he left her alone to raise the child by her self. Years later when Wolf was five, his mother died. When Wolf was older, he left the village in search of his father to get answers on why he left, his mother had told him everything about his father, he even had a picture of the man, so he was sure to find him one day, I suppose." Hinata sat down in the chair and continued, "Wolf traveled the country side for a long while, he grew into a very handsome lad, but never settled down, he didn't want to be like his father, so he denied all advances on his person from both sides of the scale." She chuckled at that, "but one day on his travels, he met a girl with fox ears and tail, she was Spice, they started traveling together, and somewhere along the way, they fell in love, and had a child. A fox summons and a human, having a child together out of love, what do you make of that?"

 

Shikaku stared at the Kitsune woman for a while, he was sure that there was a reason behind this story, it could have been made up, but there was still enough detail to say that it might not have been. He also suspected that this particular story was about her, he tested his theory, "was Spice and Wold, by any chance, you parents?" He asked, thinking that he might have been right.

 

Hinata chuckled again, "no way," Shikaku was stunned again, he's rarely ever been wrong before, but then she continued, "they're my grandparents!" 

 

Shikaku nodded,"oh, well then, uh-" he cleared his throat. "Okay, I see how you think this would work and all, but you're forgetting another big thing."

 

"Oh? What may that be?" Hinata asked.

 

"Kurama and I are both male," Shikaku answered.

 

"Ooh...what's your point?"

 

Shikaku could feel his eye brow twitch for some reason, "Kurama's married to the third rikage, E, in their marriage, Kurama is the one having the children, not E. If I was to go threw with this, how would that marriage would out? I mean, I'm sure that you all will be expecting us to procreate at some point, right? So I'm asking, who's going to be in charge of that?" Shikaku felt slightly annoyed, not because he was talking about this sort of thing so casually, but because Hinata looked amused by his questioning.

 

A sly smile appeared on her face, "oh, there's no need to worry about that, my friend, we'll take care of that when the time comes. Although, I would like to point out that if you were to go threw with this, you will be able to see your son more often than not. No more long distance letters, no more wonder what the other is doing at this very moment. You will be living together again, much like you did when he was in the village, before the bad thing happened that made him want to leave it forever." Hinata rose from the chair and walked over to one of the walls behind it, "you will be free to do as you wish, can go wherever you want, be whoever you want. As long as you agree, I can guarantee that you, and your clan, will be forever protected by the Kitsune and the Deer clan, for as long as the you all exist, the contract will be safe." He reached out and touched some of the stones that made up the wall in a patter than only someone from the Kitsune clan would know, a moment went by and the stones on the wall started to come apart, but instead of the place coming down in a rumble of stone, rock, and everything else that made up Kurama's house, it revealed a pathway that was drowned in white light. Hinata waited until all the stones were out of the way before she looked back at Shikaku, "I will give you three days to think over this proposition, until then, you will be free yo hang out with your son until your mission is over. Have a good day," she said pleasantly as she started to walk into the light.

 

TO BE CONTINUED.......


	27. The thing that brings us closer

Shikaku followed the Kitsune Hinata through the halls and down a flight of stairs, he was just about to ask where they were going, when they stopped in front of a open door that led to an empty room beyond it. The room was made up of stone walls and cement floor and ceiling. In the center of the room was a table with two chairs on either side, a single candle was lit in the middle of the table, the room made their feet echo with every step they took. Shikaku looked around the room, noticing that it had no windows, it almost reminded him of the torture and interrogation rooms in konoha, but without all the blood stains everywhere from Ibiki's....'tactics'. He turned to Hinata and saw that she had transformed into her human form again, "what is this place?" He asked her, "what goes on here?"

 

Hinata walked over to one of the chairs at the table and took a seat, she waited for Shikaku to take the hint, he did in no time at all, and she took in a deep breath. "Long ago, before I or my mother was born, there was this girl named Spice, she was one of the first in the clan to master transformation at a young age. This however, got her into trouble with the elders most of the time, because she would use her human form to go between worlds, on one such occasion, she met a human male that stole her heart, but she didn't steal his back."

 

"What happened to her?" Shikaku asked.

 

"She was forced to stay in the Kitsune realm for a long time, but she wasn't all that upset about that outcome," Hinata said, sounding sad.

 

Shikaku thought about the story and wondered to himself, "and what happened to the man?"

 

"He stayed in his own realm, he was denied our service because of the way he treated one of our own. I heard once, that his clan was wiped out in the second war, all of his family and loved ones gone, except for one son. As a last ditch effort to have his clan last, he abandoned the child in front of the gates of new village in Fire Country, you would know it now as Konoha."

 

Shikaku nodded, "I'm guessing that you guys kept a close eye on this boy after that?"

 

"You are correct, we watched and waited, the boy was smart and grew well. He even became the fourth leader of your village, however...." Hinata looked down at her hands. "We wanted to bring him in as the next head summoner of our clan, but then things changed."

 

"What would that be?" Shikaku asked as he was starting to piece together some of the history between the Namikaze clan and the Kitsune clan. 

 

"The woman he married, she wasn't right for him, she did things to manipulate him and persuade him to do things that we had never seen him do before. He allowed her to change things, rules, laws of the village, I have no idea how your human villages work, but if it is anything like our clan, then she would be over stepping her bounds and would be punished for it."

 

"Is it because she was a woman who as doing all these changes? Or was the things that she was doing unsafe for the well being of the village?" Shikaku questioned, he had no idea of this happening, if he was right, and he knew he was, then the woman she's talking about is Kushina. But he had no clue of what things Kushina might have or might not have done behind her husbands back, even thought the story was making some sense, in a way, to him, he he couldn't figure out where Kushina fit into all of this.

 

Hinata looked at Shikaku, she could see the wheels turning in his head and was curious to find out what he was thinking, but she knew that he would share his thoughts soon enough and would need more information to complete his thinking. She continued, "that woman, she went by the name, Kushina Uzumaki, her family used to be able to summon us, but they lost that right after a certain incident prevented them from passing on their head summoner title over to the chosen heir. We had spies in place to insure his safety, but it seems that Kushina got to him first before out spies could protect him."

 

Shikaku's eyes became like steel, "was this person hurt so badly that they could no long become a ninja?"

 

Hinata shook her head, "no, this person, his name came from a frail and weak mother that died after giving birth to him, one of the were there to see it happen. He saw a lot of grief that day, but none more grate than that of Kushina Uzumaki. She wept for her mother's passing for days, almost weeks, until to point of changing her aura completely. Even though the mother, who was the head summoner at the time, had passed, we still watched over her family because we had to be the ones to chose the next head summoner for the Uzumaki clan. We saw that Kushina herself was a good fighter, but she was very rash and hot headed, always rushing into battle with barely a plan to speak of, she fought well, but there was something about her that the elders didn't like. A darkness that followed her after her mother's passing, it was a risk to even consider such a person for the position." Hinata sighed, "but then her brother came along, he couldn't right very well and he was a little sickly on most days, but his will was strong, a heart pure as gold, he didn't get mad or jealous about his sister's fighting abilities because he knew that he was strong on the inside, we believed that his inner strength would one day come out and be the thing that saves us all.....But then one day, Kushina played a trick on the village, like most Uzumaki's were known to do from time to time, although it was common in the that village, the prank that Kushina did was crippling."

 

"How bad was it?" Shikaku asked.

 

A sad look came into Hinata's eyes then, "I was given the responsibility to watch them that day, I was still very young and experienced back then, but. But...if I was a little fast, I-I might have been able t save him from that faith." She wiped away the tears that started welling up in her eyes, "on that day, Kushina crossed the line, she killed her only brother, in the name of a prank, a prank that shoudnt have happened, because she was meant to watch him that day while their father was out on a three day mission." She shook her head, "by the time he came back, his son was dead, and his daughter hand been banished from the village forever, never to return for doing such a stupid thing."

 

Shocked, Shikaku sat at the table, letting it all sink in. _"Kushina had a brother, she liked to play pranks, but one of her pranks went wrong and she ended up killing her own little brother in the process, maybe even others that wasn't know at the time. What kind of prank was it? How did he die? Was he suffering until the end?"_ These thoughts ran around in Shikaku's head, round and round they ran until he couldn't take it anymore, he had to know, "what kind of prank was it?" He asked, curiosity getting to him.

 

"It was something that involved paint, from what I can remember," Hinata informed him. "She rigged up wires and paint cans, along with other stuff that I had no idea what was in them, all over the village in every containment unite that she could get her hands on. Cans, cups, scrolls, pots, you named it, they were all filled with pink paint, everywhere you looked, the paint containers were set up everywhere. Then when first light came, the containers toppled and so did many of the people, some that were just exiting their homes, some that were with their kits, animals too, no one was spared. The paint had two forms, some in liquid form, some in powder form, both equally damaging. The hospitals were packed for weeks on-end, many children lost their sight, some went blind forever, but there was only one death that came from this cause, and it was Kushina's younger brother."

 

Shikaku felt as if he had enough piece of this side of the story to make a guess of what happened back then, but there were a few things that still bothered him. It was like there were some piece missing, but he couldn't be sure of what those piece where as of yet. After another minute with his thoughts, he looked back to Hinata, "why did you decide to bring me all the way down here to tell me that story? There has to be a reason for it, am I right?"

 

Hinata finished drying her eyes on a handkerchief that she took out from one of the inner pockets of her clothing, she nodded to him once. "Yes, there is a reason. Shikaku Nara, I would like to make a propitiation, one where you will no longer be separated from your son, what would you think of this offer?"

 

Shikaku, for a split second, thought that he had heard wrong. There was a way for him to be with his son, even thought they live mile apart now, was that really possible? He shook his head of those thoughts, "what would be the cost?"

 

Hinata placed both her hands on the table with a sigh, "listen, I know you are expecting the worst, however, I know for a fact that the Nara clan has had a secret that they didn't want anyone to know about. Lest of all Konoha, the very village that they live in, but sine the Kitsune line knows most of the Deer's secrets, as well they ours, I thought that this deal would be all too fitting for you to consider." 

 

"Which would be to...what, exactly?" He asked.

 

Hinata got up from the table and walked to thee farthest wall from them, she pressed a some spot on the wall in seemingly random places. At first, nothing happened, then suddenly the wall started to part and a bright light shined through, it filled the room up that Shikaku had to shield his eyes from said light. Once the light died down, Shikaku brought down his arms from over his eyes, he stood from his seat and stared at the opening in the wall. Beyond that wall seemed to be a room that was now directly connect to this one, it had the same walls, the same chairs, the same table and candle in the center, it was a mirror image of this room, or maybe this room was room was a mirror of that one. He decided to not worry himself over those facts, and focused on the person standing on the other side of the opening, it was a girl, dressed the same as Hinata, but her kimono was a forest green with white smoke clouds, while Hinata's own was a dark, midnight purple color. The new comer had pale looking skin, pure white in fact, but what really stood out about her was her bright ruby green eyes that shined like the brightest jewel he had ever seen. He hair was a chocolate brown color that framed her face nicely. Coming out of his trance, Shikaku cleared his throat and stood up straighter, "who is this?" He asked.

 

The green eyed girl bowed, "hello to you too, Shikaku, it's been a while sine you last summoned me." She said with a polite smile on her face, "though I don't blame you for not knowing who I am, I would hope that you at lest remember the name of your very first summons when you became head of your clan."

 

Something clicked inside of Shikaku's mind, he put the piece together in his head as he made his way over to the opening in the wall. He stood next to Hinata and bowed to the green eyed woman, "it's good to see you again, Shimoto, I didn't expect you to be in your human form. You never use it, around me anyways, I almost thought you hated it, what changed?"

 

The now named Shimoto giggled, "just because I don't use it around you, doesn't mean that I hate using it at all." She said, she turned to Hinata, "may I cross over?"

 

Hinata nodded, "yes, of course," she said, Shimoto nodded her thanks as the three walked back over to the table. Shimoto sat in the spit that Hinata was sitting in before and Shikaku took up his seat from before, while Hinata stayed standing. "I will leave you two alone to talk, would any of you like anything to drink?"

 

Shimoto took a long look at Shikaku, a sense of nostalgia washing over her, she had, after all, known this man since he was ten years old. She shook her head, "whatever you have up there will do fine by me, I'm not picky," she said with a sigh, Shikaku said the same thing, but with sake. Hinata nodded and left the room to the two so they could talk about the deal, once Hinata was out of the way, Shimoto closed her eyes. "I came her to talk about business, but I see no reason no to catch up a bit first, how long has it been since we last saw each other? Eight, ten years?"

 

"More like eleven, Shikamaru's birthday passed a few weeks ago," Shikaku informed.

 

Shimoto's brightened, "ah, Shikamaru, and how is the young lad? Still lazy like his old man?"

 

Shikaku chuckled, "from what I've seen of late, he's not so lazy anymore. In fact, I think he may start a revolution within the next generation of Nara's, our cloud watching days may be numbered after all, Shimoto."

 

"Oh too bad, I was looking forward to more of them in the future, but do tell, I want to know it all," with that said, the two talked about past events until Hinata came back. Shikaku even went so far as to bring up the pictures his son sent him over the years, as well as baby pictures.

* * *

_Meanwhile, back in konoha_

 

 

 

Minato stared Kushina down, his three oldest doing the same. Family relations were thrown to the wind, the only thing that was cared about was the truth and the dark secrets that she tried to hide from them about their missing family member. "Kushina, tell us....what did you do to Naruto back then, when he was two? The video doesn't show all of it, I know there are some major pieces missing and I want to know what they are."

 

Kushina was quite for a long time, when she finally looked into the eyes of here family, she saw that here was pain and a hate that was building up in their eyes. Hate against her. She didn't want to see that look in their eyes, not when its directed towards her, "alright, I suppose it's about time I tell you the whole truth. But you mist promise me one thing. Do not interrupt, don't say anything at all, allow me the chance to tell you everything that I did, the good, the bad, and the ugly."

 

Minato folded his arms in front of him, "I will hear what you have to say. Start talking."

 

Kushina took a deep breath and spoke, "I tried to kill him and sell him to Iwa for m-"

 

Before Kushina could finish that statement, a fist connected to her face so hard that it sent her flying twenty feet away. When everyone saw who did the punch, they were a little  shocked to see that it was Shion, but no one moved to help Kushina out of the ground, or asked if she was okay. Shion clenched her fist tightly, "you, you, you sick piece of-how could you even think about doing such a thing to poor Naru?"

 

"Shion!" Said blond looked back at the person who called her name, it was her father, "we said we will let her tell her story. If you are going to keep beating her up, then we will be here all day, please come back to stand by me, if you interrupt again, I will have yo ask you to leave the area. Is that understood?"

 

Shion wiped the tears from her eyes, "yes dad," she said ans took up her original spot next to Ryu, who placed a hand on his sister's shoulder to comfort her.

 

Kushina got back to her feet, she sighed, she knew that she deserved it, for what she did, _"if Shion got mad about this part, how would she react to the rest of the story?"_ She wondered. 

 

To be continued......


	28. Whatever may come our way

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this one without glasses. Can you tell?

"Let's make some changes to their bloodlines, I'm sure that since they each have at least one parent back in their original villages that they no long wish to be related to. Taking away that would be something of a new start for them, don't you think?" Shimoto stated to Kurama, the fox head himself had entered the meeting not too long ago and had come to terms to the deer clan head's idea. Plus, he did find that Shikaku was somewhat attractive in someways, he couldn't wait to see what the man would look like after the wedding ceremony between their two clans took place. 

 

"Yes, that could work, however, I am worried that by doing so, they may lose some of their powers and abilities," Kurama stated. "Hm, I already know who to take from Shikamaru, that bothersome woman that Shikamaru was forced to call mother for all those years, she's still nothing more than a civilian with a little chakra control under her belt. The lieelt wart that she is."

 

Shimoto nodded, "why yes, how Shikaku managed to stay married to that woman for so long is beyond me," she put in her two cents. Both nodded in agreement.

 

"I'm right here you know, I can hear everything you're saying," Shikaku grumbled, it really wasn't his fault that he married her in the first place. After he turned eighteen and still wasn't engaged, the elder's of his clan took it upon themselves to fine him a wife so that he could carry on the clan tradition and have an heir. However, after two years and still no child was born, the elders wondered why, the doctor's told them that Yoshon's body would not allow Shikaku to place a child in side her, though there was nothing else wrong with her, this became a problem. After many debates, the elders enacted a plan to let Shikaku under go an old tradition of there's that seemed forgotten since the late grate wars. They allowed Shikaku to carry his own heir, by implanting a fertile egg from his wife, with his own perm, inside of his body. It turned out to b a success, Shikamaru was born healthy and strong, but Yoshino was bitter about he whole thing, say that Shikaku had stolen her limelight by doing this. Shikaku thought it was too troublesome to talk sense into the woman, since he had a baby to care for and all.

 

Shimoto turned to her old summoner, "yes, yes, I know. I Know what you went through with that horrid woman, and I do apologies for that, but still, you can't deny that it would be nice to make it so that never happened him?"

 

"Even if it still happened just so and the rolls were reversed, where I was the woman and not her, she still makes up at least a percent of Shikamaru's DNA. How would you rid him of that without taking away his identity?" Shikaku asked worriedly and curiously. 

 

Kurama spoke up, "I have an idea, there are tw ways to do this, first, we could replace Yoshino's DNA with either E's, my own, or, if you would like, Shimoto could even step in, in that regard. Or, we could make her DNA within him dormant and then make one of the other's in his DNA more prominent."

 

Shikaku considered the idea for a moment before nodding, "what about the other's?"

 

"Oh! how bout that boy, Haku, I believe it was? Let's make his mother's bloodline stronger, yes?" Shimoto asked.

 

"Might I also recommend making the young Hinata's bloodline limit stronger as well, if not change it some?" Stated the older Hinata, who had arrived with drinks and snacks sometime after Shimoto stated talking. "I could also suggest that the boy, Gaara, has some hidden Uzumaki traits as well."

 

"Very well, but when it comes to Naruto, we are to remove Kushina as his mother," Kurama stated firmly as he took a cup of sake from the tray.

 

"Why? Wouldn't that make him a none-Uzumaki?" Shikaku asked, making the other's wonder as well.

 

Kurama shook his head, "no, but there are other people that make him an Uzumaki, not just the fact that Naruto was born from the woman's womb."

 

Shimoto narrowed her eyes at her long time friend, "what are you not telling us?"

 

Kurama chuckled, "I was wondering when you were to ask me that. Well, I suppose I'll tell you, I might as well get it out of the way now any how. You see, while I was still sealed inside that dishonored cow with red hair, I bore witness to may things that I wished not to, or ever see again. One of those things being her involvement in a certain drunken scandal with with a certain under-aged, at the time, Uzumaki boy." There was an loud gasp from the head of the deer summons, and the other fox summons in the room, Shikaku looked at the two women in questioning.

 

"You don't mean...." Hinata stated, her two fox ears going up in shock.

 

Kurama nodded his head, "yes, yes, I do," he said solemnly. "It pains me to even think about how she could even go through with the act, let alone live with the facts of what she's done to the boy."

 

The room was quite for a long while until Shikaku couldn't take the wondering any longer, "who are you talking about?"

 

The three looked at him for a long moment before two turned back to Kurama, "it all started long ago. Maybe not too long ago, but it was a couple months before my release and controlled attack on the village. And the boy I talk about....." he took in a deep breath, preparing to tell the tail that he had seen with his very own eyes, "was Nagito Uzumaki." 

 

 

 

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**TO BE CONTINUED......**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, sorry for such a short chapter, but like I said, I am not wearing glasses. I've been looking for them all day, but can't seem to find them. Plus I really needed to get this chapter out since it's been so long since I last updated. Thank you all for still reading 'Legions of a ghost child' ^^


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